Endless MilkyWay
by FancyBunny
Summary: Meet second year student of Nekoma High, Hayato, Nanami. A regular student who live everyday doing the same routine. An acquaintance of her middle school year visits her one day. Somehow, her life is suddenly becomes more interesting. "I guess being part of the Cats isn't so bad..." (I don't own the characters of Haikyuu, only my characters)
1. Prologue

**Prologue:**

* * *

Nekoma High, students chat among each other during lunchtime. A few students eats their lunches. For a young female student, her usual spot to eat is at her classroom. Her dark brown hair is tied up to a low ponytail that reach a couple inches past her shoulder. Her dark grey eyes only observe some students chatting or walk past her seat. Her parents gave her name Hayato, Nanami. Her classmates usually nickname her, Nene for short.

Nene enjoys eating her homemade lunches, trying out new recipes to give her more energy for the day. With a small smile on her face, yesterday's recipe was a success. Finishing her lunch, she turns to the clock behind her to check the time. Luckily, she has time to buy pocket size snacks from the vending machine. Grabbing her coin purse, she left the classroom to her favorite vending machine.

* * *

Returning to her class with a couple candy bars in her hands, Nene notices a few students standing in front of the classroom doors. The students are all male students; they seem strange with their hairstyles. One of them shaved his head but the top part of his hair is dyed blonde. She blinks in confusion as her head slightly tilts to the right. _'They are taller than an average male student…'_ Nene thought to herself. She is a bit annoyed of the male students crowding the door; Nene mumbles excuse me while squeezing past them. A couple of her classmates mumble out welcome back. Nene thanks the heavens above for giving her friendly classmates. She returns to her set while putting her treats in her school bag.

**"Nanami-san."** A female student approach Nene at her desk. Nene smiles a little her classmate, **"Oh Hello, Mai-san."**

**"There are some boys who wanted to see you, I'm not sure why. They are outside."** Mai said while looking at the classroom door. The male students who stand outside of the door, wave at the two female students. Mai only glares at the suspicious students while Nene looked confused. Mai turns to Nene, **"Just say the word and I'll make them run with their tails between their legs."**

Nene sweat drops at her classmate's bold nature. Mai is a tall black haired student who is Nene's left side neighbor of the class. She is quite protective of her female classmates but she is more protective of Nene. Nene stands at 5'4, shorter than her female classmates.

**"N-no, it's fine Mai. I'll check what they need."** Nene assures Mai and left her seat to greet the males.

When she approaches the teenage men, Nene seems uneasy with the group until she saw one student who is familiar. He could easily tower her with his height. His black bed head stands out from the usual hairstyles. His name is Kuroo, Tetsuro.

**"Yo, Haya-chan."** He greets her with a smirk on his face. Nene sighs, **"Kuroo-san, is there something you need?"**

Nene knew him in the past since they share the same class in middle school and they were desk neighbors. She is quite familiar with his laid-back attitude with a hint of being mischievous. Now in Nekoma High school, they are next door class neighbors. She notices the blonde mohawk student is nervous about something. Nene ignores that for now as she focuses on Kuroo.

Kuroo wrap his left arm around Nene's shoulder, **"Well you see, Haya-chan. Our volleyball team is running in a bit of a problem."** Nene suddenly becomes wary of Kuro's change of voice from normal to sickly sweet that could put a small chill down her spine.

**"Problem?"** Nene asks. Kuroo looks down to her eyes, **"Well I know that you don't do much after school, staying home and doing homework every day."**

Nene doesn't like where this is going now, almost kicking herself in the head for taking the bait. **"Your point?"** She asks in a tired voice.

**"So my point is…become our volleyball manager, Haya-chan!"** Kuroo said joyfully. Nene could only stare at Kuroo with wide eyes, shocked at his idea.

**"EHHHHHHH?!"** Nene shouts in confusion.

* * *

**A/N: Done with prologue...ahh Now I shall tackle school style fanfiction. Thank you for readers who took the time to read this fanfiction. I'll be uploading soon in the future. I believe this should be fluff, friendship, and maybe romance...I don't know yet. Pfff it sounds like the usual Korean Drama mix (I cannot stop watching them).**

**Bye Bye everyoneee!**

**-Fancybunny.**


	2. Meet the team

** Meet the team**

* * *

Nene couldn't remember what happened after seeing Kuroo. It's been a day since her mind becomes occupied by his idea. _'Me, a manager? I guess it wouldn't be so bad right?'_ She thought to herself. She blankly stared at the chalkboard at the front of the classroom. Her mind goes to automatic; her hands distract themselves by copying everything on the board to her notebook. Nene almost jumped out of her seat when the bell rings for the end of the day.

**"Hey…Nanami-san?" **A female voice made Nene's heart out of her chest. Nene's head slowly turn to her classmate, Mai. Mai looks worried for her robotic friend who gave her a fake smile. Her classmate gave her a short glare, Mai always hates people lying to her.

**"Sorry, Mai-san. A lot of stuff is going through my mind."** Nene said truthfully while bearing a tired smile on her face. Mai nods, **"I can tell, your body movements are like a robot. Now then, you should go to the gym, no one likes their manager to be late."**

Nene tries to ask how she knows about her after-school activity but Mai left quickly. Looking at the time, she quickly packs her stuff in her bag and jog to the gym.

* * *

**"Huff…huff…I made it."** Nene quietly comments, out of breath. She is surprised of the grand size of the gym. Her left hand held on the edge of the metal's doorway. Her ears caught the student's sneakers squeak against the polished wooden floor.

She saw a few male students wearing their sport uniforms. Red and black is Nekoma's color. Her eyes caught the student's quick movements to catch the ball from hitting the floor. Nene saw Kuroo shout out to one of his team mates to catch the volleyball. The volleyball member falls forward to let his left arm bounce the ball to the air. She slowly walks to the wooden benches, Nene studies one male student that have the ends of his hair dyed blonde while the top remains dark brown stands in the middle of the net, ready himself for the flying ball to fall on his hands. His hands direct the ball towards his left side. Nene's eyes widen to see Kuroo jumped into the air to slam the volleyball to other side of the net of the opponent's side.

The other side of the net is some other members of the team, giving Nene a hint that they are practicing.

_'They are like cats. Powerful and nimble.'_ Nene thought to herself. She lost herself to the game in front of her. A deep chuckle broke her out of her thoughts. She turns her head to her left to see two grown men looking at her with interest.

**"Oh! I-I'm sorry for interrupting. I'm here for the manager's position…Kuroo-san recommend me to join the team."** Nene nervously explains herself. One of the grow ups is an elderly man, he reminds Nene of a cat who bears a cat-like grin.

**"Ah yes. He mentions you when we talk about the manager's position, Hayato, Nanami."** The elderly man comments. "You can call me Nekomata-sensei, advisor of the volleyball club. This is my assistant coach, Naoi-sensei." Naoi bows his head in greetings and Nene bows to them.

**"Please to meet you both, Nekomata-sensei and Naoi-sensei. I hope I can live up your expectations."** She said. Nekomata smiles at the flustered Nene; he motions Naoi to blow the whistle. Naoi nods then blows the whistle for break time. The team turns to their coach and newly appointed manager. Kuroo jogs to Nene, **"Glad you can make it Haya-chan. Oi Kenma, remember Haya-chan?"** He calls out for his pudding haired friend. Kenma sighs then nods in greetings to Nene, **"Hello…nice to see you again Hayato-san."** Nene gave a small smile Kenma, **"Likewise."**

Nekomata spoke up, **"Everyone, meet your newly appointed manager, Hayato, Nanami. Please make her feel welcome here."** The team shouts out in greetings and Nene bows her head in greetings.

**"Nice to meet you all, I will try my best and please be patient with me."**

* * *

One by one, the volleyball team introduce themselves to their new manager.

A light haired brunette student introduces himself, **"Hello Hayato-san, my name is Yaku, Morisuke. A third-year student and the libero of the team."** Nene and Yaku shared a handshake. Nene felt at ease from Yaku's warm nature. He seems to be a bit taller than Nene in height.

Nene jumped in surprised when another male student with a blonde mohawk nervously shouts loudly as his cheeks grow red.

**"M-my name is –!"**

**"Ah his name is Yamamoto, Taketora. A second year likes you and wing spiker. Don't mind him, Haya-chan."** Kuroo interrupts the nervous male. Yamamoto angrily yells at Kuroo, **"You!"** He quickly follows Kuroo who smirks and jogs away from him. Nekomata blows his own whistle to let the team practice again. Nene felt suddenly tired when watching the volleyball team play against each other. She quickly fishes out a cherry jolly rancher from her school bag and throws it into her mouth. She let the candy sweeten her tastes buds and her body back to normal after sitting on the wooden bench for a while.

_'Maybe…this wouldn't be so bad after all.'_ Nene thought herself when she starts refilling empty water bottles or bringing a small basket of clean towels for the team. She felt glad to meet an interesting team of Nekoma.

* * *

**A/N: Done with the first chapter of Nene-chan's first day of being manager. I'm slowly pacing myself to let her bond with the team. After all, friendship is powerful like family. Thank you for the readers to take the time to read my fanfiction. **

**Hope you can read my later chapters in the future! Bye bye everyone!**

**-Fancybunny**

**Trivia: **

**. Nene-chan loves different types of food but leans a bit towards sweets.**


	3. Nurse's office

**Nurse's office**

* * *

Nene got use to the smell of the Nurse's office. She sits on a soft stool while watching the school's nurse. The nurse is kind towards her students, her warm atmosphere help them ease their nervousness. Miss Fujimoto is in her mid-twenties and has her brown hair tied up into a French braid with large square glasses to help her far sight. As Fujimoto turns to Nene holding her wooden clipboard at her right, she has a kind smile on her face.

**"How are you feeling, Hayato-san?"** She asks while approaching her. Nene thought for a second then responds, **"I'm feeling a bit weak but other than that I feel fine. Thank you Fujimoto-sensei…"**

Fujimoto opens a miniature fridge to grab a small can of apple juice to hand it to Nene. **"You almost gave me a fright. You were pale as a ghost."** The female teacher said. Nene thanks her and opens the can to take a sip.

**"Sorry, it won't happen next time."** Nene gave a tired smile. **"It's fine, besides I wouldn't be a nurse if I don't like this job."** Fujimoto giggles. They share a small laugh then Fujimoto checks her notes.

**"Well, just rest here for a moment until you feel fine to leave."** The nurse concludes. Nene nods, not wanting her teacher to worry again of her health. Looking at the clock on the wall behind her, Nene notices that the last class for the day is almost ending. Finishing and disposing her empty can in the recycle bin, Nene says her good bye to Fujimoto and return to her classroom.

* * *

Nene closes the door of the nurse's office behind her. She looks around to find barely a soul in the hallways.

_'Of course…it's class still.'_ She thought to herself. Nene remembers the nurse's office is in the first level. The nurse's office is four doors next to the stairway. She walks towards the stairway until she stops when she heard someone.

**"Hayato-senpai!"** A happy male voice calls from behind. Nene looks behind her to see one of the members of the volleyball team. He easily towers her due to his tall stature, it's quite imitating when someone could easily tower her and overpower her. His bright personality and bubbly attitude easily destroys any look of imitation for Nene. His brunette spiked hair stands out from most students with his tall stature. Nene found it hard to believe that he is a first year student and could easily past as a third year like Kuroo.

It's strange for him to wear his school uniform since Nene is use to seeing him in his volleyball uniform. He jogs towards Nene and smiles at her. **"I'm surprised to see you here Hayato-senpai. What are you doing here?"** Inuoka asks.

**"Oh, I'm just got out of the nurse's office that's all. Just call me Hayato-san."** Nene answers with a small smile on her face. Inuoka's eyes widen from her answer. He checks Nene for any injuries with a worried look on his face, **"Are you alright?!"** He shouts by accident.

Nene shushes him for being too loud, he closes his mouth and mumbles out sorry to her. **"I'm alright. It's just a checkup that's all."** Nene said. Inuoka nods then both of them heard the school bell ring for the end of the day. Students pour out from their classrooms to leave the school grounds. Inuoka spoke up, **"Come on Hayato-san. Let me walk with you to get your bag."**

**"What about your stuff?"** Nene asks. Inuoka smiles and tells her that his class is next to the stairway towards the second floor. She let Inuoka grab his stuff and they walk upstairs to her class.

* * *

**"Nanami-sannn! Where have you been?!"** Mai cries out in worry when she saw Nene enter their classroom. Nene eases her worrying classmate and explains her 'disappearance'. Inuoka waits outside of her class. Mai nods in understanding, **"Alright then…I'll let you off the hook this time. Here are the notes that you missed."** She hands her notebook. Nene thanks Mai greatly as Mai pats her head. The short female student's cheeks dusted pink.

**"Just return the notes tomorrow morning."** Mai said as she left the classroom,** "Have fun being Nekoma's manager today!"** She calls out. Nene quickly packs her things to return outside with Inouka. They walk beside each other, Inouka beings to chat with Nene who listens to him while giving small comments. Nene couldn't help but smile at Inouka's happy attitude and his joy when talking about volleyball.

_'I want to share their joys of volleyball but first I need to learn more about it.'_ Nene thought with determination, making mental notes to visit the book store after practice.

* * *

**A/N: It's been a longgg time since I upload this fanfiction...sorry everyone! I been busy with class and family stuff but I'm back and still breathing! Forgive me for this short chapter, I will make the chapters longer in the future but I want to build up the friendship!**

**Friendship is strong like family! Remember that!**

**P.S. I run out of cookies...need to buy more...**

**-Fancybunny**


	4. Sensei's plan

**Sensei's plan**

* * *

Sitting in her seat during lunch time, Nene's eyes are occupied with a new book in her left hand. 'Introduction to volleyball with methods' is the book's title. Luckily she finishes eating her lunch before taking little notes. She turns to the next page.

_'I see…that's how you do it.'_ She thought. Her right hand held her lucky mechanical pencil as she writes a few notes and ideas in her red notebook. Next to Nene's desk at her left is Mai, she stares at Nene with a smile on her face.

**"You're serious with it, Nanami-san."** Mai points it out. Nene pauses with her notes and looks at Mai with pink cheeks.

**"I-I want to help out more since they worked so hard including the coach."** Nene explains, **"I feel useless when I know nothing about volleyball since I become their manager."**

Mai pause then pats on top of Nene's head. Nene gave a short whine when Mai ruffles her hair.

**"Don't worry Nanami-san! They should be thankful for a manager like you."** Mai said with a smile. Nene becomes flustered as the bell rings for the end of lunch.

* * *

After school, Nene reports to the teacher's lounge to greet Nekomata sensei. She remains silent when Nekomata is occupied with a phone call. With her bag held to her left side, Nene holds on to her red notebook.

**"Very well, thank you for calling us. Have a great day."** Nekomata said over the phone before hanging up. He took out a small notepad and writes down something in pen. Nene spoke up, **"Who was that sensei?"**

**"A determined teacher from Karasuno. He keeps calling me for a practice match against us."** Nekomata answers. Nene blinks a couple of times,** "Karasuno? Did you accept it though?"** Nekomata gave cat like grin to her, **"We are going to go to another school for training."**

**"Huh? When?"** Nene asks, caught off guard with the news.

**"Our training camp starts on May 2. The practice match against Karasuno will be on May 6."** Nekomata answers. Nene took out her black cell phone from her bag to type down the dates on her calendar. They walk out of the teacher's lounge as Nekomata gave her the needed information.

**"I need to talk to my parents first for permission, sensei."** Nene explains. Nekomata nods, **"Write down their phone number for me if they need contact or information."**

**"Yes, sir!"** Nene smiles.

* * *

Nene stands beside Naoi sensei at his left; she faces the Nekoma volleyball team. She could see Kuroo smiling widely from Nekomata's news. Kenma only stares at his coach while the others have mixed reactions. Nene blinks at Yamamoto's reaction by yelling on top of his lungs.

**"Yosh! We are against Karasuno!"** Yamamoto shouts out. Her ears ring,_ 'He is loud…'_ She thought. Yaku slaps the back of Yamamoto's head, **"You're too loud, idiot."**

Yamamoto was about to shout at Yaku but Nekomata interrupts him.

**"Also, we have a present for Hayato-san."** Nekomata said. Nene looks at her sensei with confusion as Naoi hold a red shopping bag to her. She took the bag and reached inside it. Her right hand pulled out a zippered red sweater similar to the team's uniform. The boys watch their manager's eyes sparkle with joy as she saw the back of the hoodie, 'Nekoma.'

**"Come on wear it Haya-chan."** Kuroo encourages her. Nene slips in her new sweater and shows it to the team.

**"Perfect fit!"** She said with a smile. Nene saw Yamamoto's eyes become watery as he spills out tears; he quickly hides it with his arm.

**"Our manager looks so cute!"** He sobs out loud. Nene felt a hand on her head, she looks up to see Kuroo smirking at her, **"Be careful our cute manager. You'll give Yamamoto a heart attack these days."**

Nene punches his left arm in response, **"I'm not cute."** Kuroo only laughs at her poor attempt of a power punch. Kenma spoke up to tell Kuroo to be ready for practice. She thanks Kenma for intervening only to get pink cheeks in response from him.

* * *

**[A week later]**

Nene stands between Kuroo and Kenma, wearing blue top and black sweatpants with red sneakers. Over her top, she wears her Nekoma's sweater. She holds a large brown traveler's bag for spending a few nights in training camp. On her back is a brown backpack for small items. They stop to look at a bus a few feet away from them. Nene watches Yamamoto being lectured by Yaku for causing a scene earlier. Inouka chats happily with his friends while helping putting the bags inside the bus.

**"I'm surprised that your parents let you go with us, Haya-chan."** Kuroo comments when seeing her bag. Nene gave a nervous laugh, **"Well my father had trouble to be convinced but my mom tells him that I will be fine since both of you are here."**

She felt a headache coming from her memory from two nights ago.

* * *

_** "The answer is no!"** Her father shouts out, **"There are only boys over there!"** Nene sits in her chair while her parents sit across the table from her. Her father, Hiro have spiky black hair, standing at six feet and both father and daughter share grey eyes. He wears his grey tee shirt and black jeans for his day off that day. _

_Beside her father is her petite looking mother, Aiko who have wavy brunette hair and brown eyes. She wore a pastel yellow long sleeve with a long skirt that reached her ankles, designed with many flowers. Aiko is barely 5'5, it's surprising that Nene is shorter than her mother but that is nature. She frowns at her husband's childish behavior,** "Sweetie, our daughter wants to go there. It's been a long time since she goes out anywhere."** _

_"**My precious daughter will be alone with boys around her age, my love. It spells disaster I tell you!"** Hiro tears up when thinking about it. Aiko pinched his right cheek, Nene watches her father whimpers in pain. Aiko gave an unsettling smile at her husband,** "Don't worry sweetie, Kuroo-kun and Kozume-kun is in the volleyball team. Right Nana-chan?"** She turns to her daughter. _

_ Nene nods slowly, remembering that her mother remembered that bed-headed boy who came to her house with a school project during middle school. Sometimes he invited himself in her house when he was bored or need help with homework. Later on, her parents met Kenma when Kuroo take him to her house for introduction. Her mother adored Kuroo and Kenma while her father had trouble accepting the fact that her daughter have friend who are the opposite sex rather than females like her. _

_ At the end, Hiro begs his wife to let go and let her daughter go with the volleyball team. He stares at his daughter with his right cheek bright red._

_**"Okay you can go. Remember kick them where they hurt."** _

* * *

Both males sweatdrops from Nene's story. **"Your mother is leader of the house."** Kuroo comments. Nene nods in agreement while Kenma flips his phone open to check the time.

Yaku calls out to them,** "Hey! We are leaving already!"** Kuroo and Kenma jog towards the bus with Nene following them from behind.

Nene took her seat in the bus and places her bag on the empty seat with Kuroo and Kenma taking a seat behind her. The other players took other spots of the bus. She wears black headphones to listen to her ipod while reading a short novel. Her ipod plays various rock songs or classical violin. Closing her book, she looks out the window to see a large school building. Nene saw the name of the school, Shirato High school. As the bus drive past the high school, they arrived to a large building a couple blocks away. The bus parks next to building; they walk out of the bus and faced Nekomata.

**"Alright students, walk around to stretch your legs. This is our place to sleep. Be at Shirato High in a couple hours."** Nekomata announced. The Nekoma students grab their luggage to put inside the building. Nene's eyes widen at the size of the building. Kuroo help Nene with her large bag, **"What you put in here Haya-chan?"** He asks, surprised at the weight of her luggage.

**"I only pack the stuff I needed but my mother adds more things to make sure 'her daughter is comfortable'…"** Nene explains. She took a small bedroom that is two doors down from the boy's large room. Kuroo place her bag down in her room and left her to unpack with Kenma following Kuroo.

After a couple of minutes, Nene left her room to be greeted by Kenma who is playing games in his phone.

**"Oh something wrong Kenma-san?"** She asks. Kenma puts away his phone in his sweatpants pocket, **"Want to walk around…?"** He asks softly. Nene nods, **"Sure, I need to get something to drink anyways."**

* * *

They walk next to each other to leave the building. Walking around their new surroundings, they found a vending machine. Nene bought a couple of drinks, an orange flavor soda and a bottle of water. She gave the bottle of water to Kenma and he thanks her as he puts it in his volleyball bag. Nene stretches her arms to the sky as they continue walking to an unfamiliar neighborhood.

**"This place is peaceful."** Nene speaks up, **"Are you alright, Kenma-san?"**

Kenma looks around to look at the buildings, **"I think we are lost…"** Nene looks around also and sighs, **"I guess we are. Let's take a break here."**

She pointed to a blue fence with a small brick building that is have a small sign that said restroom. Kenma sits on the concrete edge then puts down his volleyball bag beside him as Nene spokes up.

**"I'll be back soon, Kenma-san."**

Kenma nods his head as he watches Nene entering the building. He turns his head then takes out his cell phone to text message Kuroo.

Nene exits the restroom to see Kenma in his cell phone. She walks towards him,** "Did I miss anything, Kemna-san?"** Kenma looks up then shakes his head.

**"I texted Kuroo-san…he will be coming soon."** He said. Nene heard a cat meowing nearby. She looks down to see a calico cat walking to her.

**"Hello there. Did you keep Kenma-san some company while I was gone?"** Nene asks then kneels down to pet the calico's head. The cat meows for yes as it purrs in happiness from Nene's touch. Nene heard a distant cry from far away.

**"Do you like it sweetie?"** She questions the cat. The cat meows happily again. Kenma smiles a little at the scene in front of him. He turns back to his cell phone to distract himself. She looks at the cat to walk by Kenma's right leg and sit down on the ground.

**"What are you doing?"** A male voice called out. Kenma jumps a little in surprise as Nene looks person a couple of yards away from Kenma. Kenma turns his head to the person who jogs to him. Nene is distracted from the male's orange hair. She watches the cat walk away from the orange hair boy to run away. Nene stands up straight to watch Kenma looking nervously away from the boy.

**"You're from out of town?"** The orange hair boy asks. Kenma only said yes and looks at his phone screen. Nene looks at Kenma and the boy interact with each other. She holds in her giggle when the boy kneels down to look up at Kenma,** "Is it interesting?"**

**"Not really. I'm just passing time."** Kenma answers. Nene finally spoke up,** "Kenma-san, you know it's rude to not to look the person in the eye."** Kenma shuffles in his seat.

The orange haired boy turns to Nene and his brown eyes widen,** "Ah!"** Nene waves at the boy in hello. She could see the boy's cheeks turn pink as he looks down to see Kenma's bag.

**"Are you a volleyball player?"** He asks out loud. Kenma finally looks up at the boy who points at Kenma's volleyball bag, **"Those are volleyball shoes."**

Kenma nods. The boy introduces himself,** "I'm in a volleyball club, too. I'm Hinata Shoyo."** Nene watches Kenma speak up to introduce himself too, **"Kozume Kenma."**

Hinata turns to Nene who coughs to clear her throat, **"Hayato, Nanami. My friends call me Nene. Please to meet you."**

**"Are you both in high school?"** Hinata asks them.

**"Yeah."** Kenma replies.

**"What year? I'm a first-year."** Hinata said. Nene spokes up, **"We are both second-year."** Kemna scoots a little to give Nene space to seat on the concrete. Hinata jumps up, **"Crap, you're older than me. Pardon me."**

Nene listens half to the boys' conversation as she took out her cell phone.

**"What position you played?"** Hinata asks. Kenma only replies setter. Hinata smiles at Kenma,** "Really? You're a little different from our setter. Our setter is a little more intense."** He explains as he acts like a monster and form his hands into claws to show how intense their setter was. Nene and Kenma put away their cell phones to watch Hinata becoming more animated with his explanation. She noted Hinata to be a middle blocker since he told him his position. Nene watches Kenma talk about his postion as Nekoma's setter and how people comment about him.

Kenma looks at Hinata with serious eyes, **"Lately, I think we're pretty good."** Hinata becomes silent then spoke up, **"What's your school?"**

**"Kenma! Haya-chan!"** A male voice called out. Nene and Kenma look to see the source of the voice. Kenma pocket his cell phone in his pants. Nene spokes up, **"What took you so long Kuroo-san?"**

Kuroo wore a black tee-shirt and red sweatpants. Both of them stand up from their seat to walk to Kuroo. Kenma and Nene waves goodbye to Hinata.

**"See you soon, Shoyo."** Kenma said. Nene smiles at Hinata, **"We will talk again soon, Hinata-san."**

They walk away from Hinata as Kuroo spokes up,** "Don't go wandering off."**

**"Well, we never had been here before."** Nene replies. Kenma only said sorry as Kuroo bends forward to Nene then flicks her forehead, **"We're strangers to this place. You have to be careful."**

She yelps in pain then gave a sad sigh,** "We're sorry for worrying you…"** Nene turns her head to her left to see Kenma, **"Hey you think Hinata-san will be playing against us? He is in Kasasuno's volleyball club."**

Kenma gave a little smile to her,** "I think so."**

* * *

**A/N: Done with this chapter! This is longer than I expected...(Couldn't stop writing, someone help meee!) Thank you all for reading this fanfiction. Please be patient with me and I love you all!**

**P.S: Have an awesome day and eat your favorite food to relax for the day!**

**-Fancybunny**


	5. Training camp

**Training camp**

* * *

Nene say goodbye to Kenma to let him change into his volleyball uniform. Standing at her right side is Kuroo, they walk to the gym to pick up the empty water bottles for the team. Kuroo lends a hand to help Nene with the filled water bottles at a nearby water fountain. He follows Nene who has a smile on her face with a metal basket to hold the water in her hands.

**"Oh? Why are you happy now Haya-chan?"** Kuroo asks with a large grin on his face. She turns her head to Kuroo, **"I only see you guys practice so I'm sort of curious how you guys play against another team."**

Nene let out a whine as she felt Kuroo's hand on her head to ruffle her hair. He laughs at her glare, **"I wonder how the Shirato volleyball club plays."** He comments out loud.

**"Well, you guys are a good team. I hope Shirato can play good as you guys."** Nene answers. Kuroo nods at her answer. They heard three members of Shirato's comments at the doorway of the gym. Nene frowns when they watch Kenma practicing with his team.

**"Don't you think their setter is kind of small?"** the first member asks.

**"Yeah, and he's kind of unsteady."** The second Shirato's member answers. Nene stands quietly behind the three boys as Kuroo listens with her. Kuroo brushes past her as he held the doorway, easily over towering them with his height.

**"That unsteady shrimp you guys are talking about."** Kuroo speaks up, **"He is our backbone of Nekoma. He's our brain and heart."** The members of Shirato gulp at the sight of the tall bedhead male. Kuroo walks past them as Nene mutters out excuse me.

She places the metal basket on the wooden bench as she walks to Nekomata and Naoi. Nene watches the Nekoma members gathering up into a circle. She smiles when Kuroo gave an encouraging speech to his team. Nene was surprised when the boys turn to her, she saw Kuroo giving her encouragement to speak up. Her cheeks felt warm as she spoke up, **"D-do your best guys. Prove to them that you guys are a team and nothing stands in your way!"** She nervously shouts out.

Yamamoto shouts out, **"Yoshhh! Hayato- san believes in us!"** Inuoka jumps into the air in happiness as the boys walks to the volleyball court. Nekomata laughs at the male's strong resolution, **"I guess your encouragement helps them Hayato-san."** Nene let out a nervous laugh as her cheeks felt hot.

* * *

She watches Yamamoto slams the ball on the floor at the opponent's side. He shouts out in happiness when he scores a point for Nekoma. Yaku only punches Yamamoto's side to shut up him.

_'This is Nekoma…the strongest team ever.'_ She thought to herself.

Nene held a clipboard in her left hand and her right hand is occupied with a mechanical pencil. Nekomata watches her write down a few things on her paper. She remains focus on the game before her. Before Nene wakes up from her focus, the whistle blows for the end of the first round. She blinks a couple of times to see the scoreboard; a point goes to Nekoma for the first game. Nene looks down at her writing to read her results. The teams are given a ten minute break.

_'They seem balanced…unless the team found their weak spot. I wonder if Kasasuno had a chance against them. This is frustrating if I don't know Kasasuno have a secret weapon or a good team like them.'_ Nene thought to herself. She lifts up the first page to read the second page, _'Maybe I could ask them if they could add more techniques to surprise them. I only see the same moves with little changes.'_

She places the pencil on top of her ear then let out a sigh, _'I cannot ask them…they seem fine with the score but it wouldn't hurt to be more preparing in case of trouble.'_ Nene snaps her head up to hear the second round of the game. Removing her pencil from its resting spot, she focuses on the game again.

* * *

The whistle blows again for the end of the game. Shirato plays a good game against Nekoma but Nekoma won the match. Nene sighs as she finishes writing down her thoughts, _'Shirato is average in defense and offense but they need build up more stamina to go against Nekoma. __They seem to be surprised when Nekoma could easily save the ball before hitting the ground.'_

Nene watches the team bow to each other for a good game as she held her clipboard at her side. Nekomata approaches her, **"You seem to focus on the game carefully Hayato-san. May I see it?"** She nods then lends her clipboard to Nekomata. Nekomata looks over her work as she spokes up, **"Sorry if it is poorly written, I had to write down what comes to my mind."**

Nene receives her clipboard back as Nekomata chuckles, **"Its fine, I will keep your thoughts in mind since you are part of the team."**

* * *

Nene borrows the kitchen to cook dinner for the team, she change into a blue short sleeved shirt with black sweatpants. She wore a white apron as she turns to Naoi who is lending a hand.

**"Naoi-sensei, make sure the pot is not boiling like crazy."** Nene said as she cuts the peeled carrots and potatoes with her kitchen knife. Naoi said yes as he stirs the pot with a metal ladle. He spokes up, **"This smells good Hayato-san."**

**"I hope the food will be good for you guys, I only cooked for my family when they are busy with work."** She answers as Naoi moves out of Nene's way when she slowly pours in the vegetables in the pot. Nene instructs Naoi to check on the rice if it is ready yet.

Naoi walks to the rice cooker and spoke up, **"I'll tell the guys to get ready to eat."** Nene nods as she saw Nekomata entering the kitchen. Both of them prepare the food and table in the dining room as the boys' smell the mouth watering aroma of homemade food.

Nene seems surprise at the sight of the guys eating her cooking with joy on their faces. Naoi let Nene eat her food when he finishes eating his share. Yamamoto sobs in joy when stuffing his face, **"This is the best food I had!"** Yaku shouts at Yamamoto, **"Oi! Don't talk with your mouth full!"**

She smiles at the sight when taking a seat on the table where Nekomata is eating.

**"I can't help it! Hayato-san is a goddess with cooking!"** Yamamoto's comment made her cheeks hot with embarrassment.

* * *

**"I'm glad the guys like it…"** Nene mumbles to herself as she dry her damp hair after a trip to the shower. She lays out her futon neatly when wearing pajamas. At least her mother packs appropriate nightwear of short sleeves top and long pants. With her hair dry, she turns off the lights in her room and retires early for the night.

_'I wonder how Nekoma will play against Karasuno.'_ She thought.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for not updating for a long time. I'm busy with my classes and finals. Don't worry guys! I will be back soon when I'm done with my classes. Hope you guys have fun!**

**-Fancybunny**


	6. Nekoma verses Karasuno

**Nekoma verses Karasuno**

* * *

Nene is excited when the day finally comes for Nekoma's match with Karasuno. She quickly refills the boys' water bottles and make sure there is enough towels for them in the gym. When everything was checked out in her to do list, she adjusts her Nekoma's hoodie and left the gym. Nene stops at the door way to see male teens wearing black sport uniforms with Nekoma

_'Are the boys from Karasuno?_' She thought. She watches the boys studying each other for any weakness. Her eyes study a couple of males in Karasuno. Grey eyes shines for a second from excitement at the thought of observing Karasuno. For now, she jogs towards Nekoma with their backs facing her. Her hair is kept into a messy bun today as she walks to Kenma's side. A shout caught her attention; Nene turns to the source of the shout. His orange hair stood out from the rest of Karasuno's members.

**"Ah!"** Hinata shouts out in surprise when seeing Nene and Kenma again. Nene smiles at Hinata,_ 'Hinata-san is here. Is he going to play against Nekoma?_ She thought. The boys including the female manager broke their line formation to walk towards the gym.

**"Kenma! Nanami-san!"** Someone calls out to them. Kenma and Nene stops to see Hinata running towards them.

**"Hey, are you guys with Nekoma?"** Hinata asks. Kenma only replies yes as Nene spokes up, **"Kenma is a member of Nekoma. I'm just a manager for them."** Nene watches Hinata becomes crestfallen at the news.

**"Why didn't you tell me?"** He mutters out.

**"Because you didn't ask…"** Kenma replies. Nene giggles quietly from Kenma's response. Hinata mentions that both of them said 'see you soon.' when he first met them.

**"Hinata-san, the reason behind that is your t-shirt said 'Karasuno High school'."** Nene points it out. Kenma nods, agreeing with her. Hinata gave them a blank pokerface, Nene blinks when someone is behind them. She turns her head to see Yamamoto glaring at the orange haired player.

**"Hey, hey, hey. What business might you have with our setter and our cute manager?"** Yamamoto questions. Nene turns to Hinata who is shivering. Kenma who is standing at her right speaks up, **"It's fine."** She tries to tell Hinata to stop as he walks backwards while mutter out an apology. Hinata bumps to one member of Karasuno, a taller male with no hair. Nene saw the bald male sharing the same glare as Yamamoto.

**"What business might you have with our first-year?"** The bald man questions Yamamoto. Her eyes widen to see both yankee males glaring at each other. Both males gave each other empty threats, leaving Nene with Kenma and Hinata watching the scene. The sliding glass doors open to reveal Yaku who seeing Yamamoto's behavior. Nene gave concern look to Yaku, he only glares at Yamamoto. A silver hair male of Karasuno walks towards his team mate with a tired look on his face.

**"We're going to 'fight'. That's why we're here to play the match."** The silver hair member said,** "And stop with the 'city boy' thing. It's embarrassing."**

**"Yamamoto, you're always quick to pick a fight. Stop it. It makes you look stupid."** Yaku adds. Both 'city boys' were frozen in shock. Nene watches Yaku apologizing to the silver hair member as the opposite member does the same. She smiles at the sight when Yamamoto jumps to see a beautiful female wearing black sport uniform. Nene giggles when Yamamoto dramatically steps backwards when the beautiful black haired female nods in hello.

**"A lady…Manager…beauty…"** Yamamoto sputters out words. Behind Yamamoto are Inouka and his friend, both of them shouts out in happiness.

**"Score! A lady manager in Karasuno. We win yakisoba bread."** They high five each other in victory. Nene's giggle caught the attention of the bald boy of Karasuno. Yamamoto only runs away while Inouka and his friend chases after him. The bald member saw the short female as his cheeks turns red.

**"C-cute…"** He mutters out when he saw sparkles around Nene. The female manager of Nekoma looks at the red face male; she said a hello to him with a smile on her face. The bald male only runs away from a confused Nene. She tilts her head as she turns to Kenma, **"Did I do something wrong?"** Kenma only shakes his head. A tall black hair male approaches Hinata, **"How come you know them?"**He asks. Hinata turns to his teammate, **"I met them by coincidence during a town run. He said that he's Nekoma's setter and Nanami-san is their manager."**

**"Setter…"** The black hair male mutters as he has an angry look on his face. Nene's grey eyes look at the black hair male of Karasuno. As her grey eyes left the male, she claps her hands to grab everyone's attention.

**"Everyone! It is time to get inside."** She said.

* * *

Nene stood next to Naoi, her attention is on Kuroo shaking hands with a tan male with short black hair. She turns back to Naoi and two grown males. One man has dyed blonde hair that stands tall like Naoi with blue sweats. At the blonde's right side is a short man with glasses and messy black hair.

**"It's been eight years. What's with the dyed hair, Ukai?"** Naoi teases the blonde man. Ukai scowls at Naoi,** "Shut up, Naoi. You haven't changed a bit."** He answers. They exchange a smile. Nene left Naoi's side to walk to Nekomata. Nekomata calls to Ukai,** "Hey, Keishin."**

Ukai greets the grinning coach. Nene only watches the men converse each other. She sighs when Nekomata teases the red face man. After they are done talking, Nene stood in silent as Nekomata's opens his eyes.

**"Even though my opponent isn't that geezer Ukai, I'll show no mercy."** He said with a cat-like grin on his face. Both males from Karasuno shivers a little from Nekomata's promise. Ukai felt the female's eyes on him. He looks at the female student but her attention is the boys in the court instead of him. He shakes off the feeling of being watched by someone.

* * *

She remains standing on her feet, her back facing the two Nekoma's coaches. Her eyes watch Nekoma form a circle while the other team does the same.

**"Hayato-san."** Nekomata calls out to Nene who is holding her clipboard and mechanical pencil in one hand. She turns to Nekomata and Naoi who are sitting on the bench.

**"Yes Nekomata-sensei?"** Nene asks. Nekomata could see the female manager's eyes shine in excitement. The old man chuckles,** "Make note of Karasuno and Nekoma's match. Nekoma probably needs some pointers if there is any."** She nods with a smile on her face.

She listens to Kuroo's words with the team, **"We're like the blood in our veins. We must flow without stopping. Keep the oxygen moving and your mind working. Let's go!"** With a shout of yes, the Nekoma team breaks out of the circle to be in their formation.

**"Stay on guard and p-pay attention!"** Nene shouts out words of encouragement from the sidelines. The boys of Nekoma nods from her encouragement. The whistle echoes throughout the gym for the start of the game.

_'I believe you guys!'_ Nene thoughts to herself, _'Nekoma should be careful with number nine…he gives me a bad feeling. Hinata is the middle of the net…so probably he has something to make up for his short stature…'_ Her pencil kept note of her mind in paper. Nene's grey eyes focus on both Hinata and number nine. As Kenma serves the first ball to the opposite side, number three receives Kenma's serve. The ball flies up into the air and drops down to number nine's sights.

**"Kageyama, cover!"** One member shouts out. Kageyama responds quickly, her eyes caught Hinata speeds to the other side of the net. Hinata jumps into the air, Kageyama launches the ball to Hinata's hand. Everyone froze when Hinata hits the ball back to Nekoma. The ball hits the ground before anyone could react.

Her grey eyes shines as Nekomata spokes up with shock,** "What the heck was that? He wasn't watching the toss."**

**"A challenge…Number nine and ten are their secret weapon."** She whispers as her right hand tightens around her pencil. Nekomata heard her quiet voice, he watches Nene quickly write down her observations. It is now Karasuno's turn to serve, Fukunage is able to receive the ball to Kenma's hands. Kenma launches the ball to Yamamoto's hand as he strikes back to Karasuno's side. The short male returns the ball to Kagayama's favor. Her eyes saw Yamamoto and Inouka get ready to block Hinata's strike. She turns her attention from Hinata to number three who is ready to strike. Her thoughts were right when Kagayama launches the ball to number three than Hinata.

She winces when Yaku attempts to return it by the ball flies out. Nene heard Nekomata speaking up again, **"That one was inevitable."** Nene frowns when Hinata scores a point again with his quick spikes.

_'They are repeating it. Nekoma can't get the ball since it's too fast for them.'_ She thought, _'Unless someone follows his every move.'_

**"This is ridiculous."** Nekomata stands up to signal a time out. Nene broke out of her focus when the whistle breaks her train of thought. She follows Nekomata as they walk towards the team.

* * *

**"Their libero and spikers are good. The most ridiculous of all is that setter."** Nekoma said then looks at Kagayama,** "He's a monster, his tosses with incredible speed to the highest spiking point. So he's a genius. We can't help that. A genius in their midst doesn't guarantee their victory."** Nene stood between Kenma and Inouka.

Nekomata looks at Kenma. Kenma looks away from his coach, **"If Shoyo is the heart of their offense, all we need to do is stop him."**

**"Shoyo?"** Yamamoto asks. Nene speaks up, **"He is number ten."**

**"That number nine and ten are their oni and his iron club."** Nekomata adds,** "For starters, we steal the oni's iron club."**

Nene mutters a word and grabs the boys' attention, **"Um…We can have one person following Hinata-san. Sorry if that is not helpful…"** Kenma thought of her idea then nods, **"We can't let Shoyo move around so much. From what I've seen with Hayato-san's sights, Shoyo simply dashes to where there are no blockers."**

She listens to Kenma and his plans to the team while she stares at Karasuno's side. As Kenma finishes explaining to his team mates, Nene gently grasps Kenma's right sleeve with her eyes remains on Karasuno.

**"Hey…Can Inouka-san be the one following Hinata-san?"** She asks him. The team and Nekomata looks at the silent manager.

* * *

Ukai saw Nekoma's side to see the female manager's careful eyes watching the boys. He turns back to Karasuno with unease.

**"I'm getting the creeps."** Ukai comments. The glasses wearing man turns to Ukai with confusion, **"Huh?"**

**"It feels like we're being watch, and analyzed. That girl is making it worse…it looks like she wants to find our weakness and take advantage with it…"** Ukai replies.

* * *

Nene took a seat on the bench, she sighs when her pencil ran out of lead. She looks at the score board.

_'11 Nekoma – 14 Karasuno…'_ She thought. A tiny yawn left her lips, feeling worn out from watching the game. Nene reaches towards her bag that is near her feet. Her hand reaches inside her bag to pull out a guava flavored hard candy. She wrapped the colorful wrap on her candy and let her hard candy settle in her mouth. A smile appears on her face when Inouka touches the ball after Hinata tries to strike back. Yaku got the ball and sends it to Kenma. Kenma jumps up to hook the ball and let it fall to Karasuno's side, earning a point for his team. Her eyes narrow when Kagayama calls for the ball, she caught his eyes pinpointing to the right corner of the court.

**"He wants to return the favor…"** Nene comments out loud. Nekomata heard her before Kagayama flies into the air to hit the ball to Nekoma's side. Kagayama spikes the ball on the opponent's floor, earning a point.

She felt the candy shrink when her eyes saw number eleven gently tapping the ball. The point goes to Karasuno. She watches number eleven focusing on Kenma, probably trying to read Kenma's movements. Kenma look upward into the air to focus on the ball.

_'He wants to be careful with Kenma but he is not good enough to read Kenma's mind.'_ Nene thought, taking a mental note. Kenma trick the tall blonde as he launches the ball to his left, the blonde flinch when he made the mistake of leaning towards the right. Nekoma hit the ball to Karasuno's side, another point for them. Nene moves her attention to her bag to look for her pencil bag. She pauses when Nekomata points out Kenma's strength with flaws to one male student standing at his left.

**"But that alone is not the strength of our team."** Nekomata concludes. Nene slowly put three pieces of leads in her mechanical pencil and make sure the tip of the pencil has lead. Her mind wanders off while her team fights against Karasuno.

* * *

_** "Kenma-san? You changed your hair?"** Nene asked when first seeing Kenma's new look. She admits blonde looks good on him from his usual black hair. Kenma's eyes left his cell phone to look at her. He looks away from her eyes then nods, **"Yes, You don't like it?"** Nene felt that Kenma's mood dampens when she doesn't speak up. She furiously shakes her head with her cheeks pink, "**N-no! It is just only a surprise for me to see you like that. Blonde looks good on you though! I like it a lot!"** She sputters out. Kenma's cheeks slowly turn pink when she gives him more compliments. _

_ Nene stops from the endless barge of compliments with red cheeks. She turns her back to Kenma and holding her hot cheeks.**"Sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable Kenma-san…Ah I'm so late! Bye Kenma-san!"** Nene shouted out as she runs away with her bag on her shoulder, going home._

_**"Thank you, Nanami-san."** Kenma thanks her and turns back to cell phone to control his burning cheeks. _

* * *

She looks up from her pencil to hear the whistle. Nene saw Inouka leaping to the right side of the net where Hinata is. The ball launches from Hinata's hand but it was blocked by Inouka's large hand. The ball hits Karasuno's side, Nekoma earns a point. The whistle blows again to signal the end of the first game, 25 points of Nekoma and Karasuno have 22. Inouka smiles from able to block Hinata's fast strikes. Nene has her clipboard on her lap with her left index finger tapping on her notes. Her right cheek rest against her right hand. Her pencil rests on her left ear, grey eyes looking at Ukai and Karasuno.

_'What will you do now Karasuno? You can't rely on your weapon too long. Can Ukai-sensei help you with your problem?'_ She questions the Karasuno's boys silently. Her eyes left the Karasuno team alone to turn her attention to the Nekoma's team. Kuroo looks at Nene with a grin on his face,** "See anyone interesting Haya-chan?"** He teases her.

**"Yes."** Nene shortly replies. The Nekoma members are surprised with Nene's answer.

**"Hinata is the one I'm interested in. I wonder what he will do now."** Nene asks herself,** "I'm curious…Hinata and Kagayama."**

* * *

The whistle blows for the second round.

Inouka blocks Hinata's quick spike again, another point for Nekoma. Nene's eyes widen when she saws Hinata's determination. A chill run down her spine as Nekomata spokes up,** "He's smiling."**

_'This boy…he has a strong spirit.'_ Nene smiles gently. She saw Hinata's eyes open when he tries to spike the ball to Nekoma's side. Nene holds in a giggle when Hinata fails and hits the ground. The scene repeats a few times, failing each time. She wrote down the repeating failures on paper and looks at the score board.

**'Karasuno – 5, Nekomata- 10'**

Another break time for both sides, Nene left her stuff on the bench. She hands everyone their bottles of water with a towel.** "Good job guys, keep on guard with Karasuno."** Nene praises them. Yamamoto shouts out in happiness,** "Yes Hayato-san praises me!"** Yaku punch Yamamoto's side to quiet him down.

**"Oi, idiot! Save your energy for the game."** Yaku lectures the happy male. Nene nervously laughs at the sight. She turns to Kuroo and Kenma. Kuroo ruffles Nene's hair, she let out a noise of annoyance. He smiles at her,** "We are going to do your plan when the time is right."** Nene pauses then looks up at a grinning Kuroo.

**"Don't do anything wreak less…and don't make any promises that you couldn't keep."** Nene mutters with pink cheeks. It makes her a bit happy when they include her into the team. Kuroo removes his hand from her hair as the whistle echoes in the gym. Kenma nods to Nene and she watches Nekoma and Karasuno return to the game.

_'You better win guys! I'm counting on you!'_ She thought.

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter done with this Haikyuu fanfiction. Thank you all for taking the time read this. Hope you keep reading more chapters in the future. Leave a review if you like too. **

**-Fancybunny**

**(Note)**

**-Nene could only point out a few things due to her observation. She takes notes of the person's habits for example Kagayama looking at the Nekoma's side before hitting the target. Sometimes she had to rely on her gut feelings if the person is strong or it could be bad news for Nekoma. In her notes, usually she writes down a lists of strengths and weakness with noticeable habits that no regular person could see. After taking notes, she gets tired since she multitasks with observation and writing at the same time. **

**-Kenma is a better person of observation than Nene**

**That's all~**


	7. The cat's prey

**The cat's prey**

* * *

_'Hinata and Kagayama…they are still slower with their attacks.'_ Nene thought when she focuses on the match between Nekoma and Karasuno. She watches Kenma take his serve to his opponents. The Nekoma manager saw the ball going straight for Hinata, she flinches when the ball hits his face. The Karasuno's libero hit the ball to number five, the energetic bald male. The bald player hits the three people blocker to earn his team a point. Nene is in loss of words when number five and Karasuno's libero chant in victory, pissing off Yamamoto in the process.

As Karasuno serves the ball to Nekoma, Fukunaga in Nekoma responds and hit the ball in the air close to the next. He runs forward to the net to distract Karasuno, Kenma guides the ball to Inouka. Inouka ran behind Fukunaga to the other side of the net to strike the ball to Karasuno's side. Nene clenches her pencil in her hand when Hinata blocks Inouka's strike to give Karasuno a chance ball. Hinata suddenly runs to the other side of the net to strike their ball to Nekoma. The orange hair male failed but the ball hit the floor before Yaku could save the ball, Karasuno earns another point.

_'Inouka and Hinata…they seem to push each other. They are becoming like rivals now.'_ Nene thought. She mentally cheers for Yamamoto spike the ball to Karasuno to earn a point for Nekoma.

**15 – Karasuno, 18 – Nekoma**

**"Almost there guys...They can win this."** Nene whispers when she saw Nekoma's team are close to the end of the match. A yard away from Nene is Nekomata, he chuckles at their manager trying to contain her excitement for the team. She watches the team change their station to let Kuroo stand at the middle of the net and Inouka chance to serve the ball. The manager softly sighs when she saw Hinata becoming angry at Kuroo who starts to get in his nerves.

* * *

She clicks her tongue when Hinata hits Inouka's serve for a quick spike. _'Kagayama is smart to do that…'_ Nene thought. _'No worries, Nekoma will get that point back.'_ The whistle blows for Hinata to serve the ball to Nekoma. Hinata succeeds at the ball to hit the other side, the ball was received by Yaku. She watches to two Nekoma players run to both side of the net. Her grey eye widen when she saw another player standing at the middle of the net. _'They are using my plan…?' _She thought.

Yamamoto faked a spike as three Karasuno members form a block.

_'They are really are using it…'_ She thought, her eyes glisten in happiness.

Kenma throws the ball into the air to the flying Fukunaga. Nene watches Karasuno's guard is lowered for him. Fukunaga spike the ball into Hinata's face. The ball flies to Nekoma's side again for Kuroo to hit the ball into the air. Kenma throws the ball into the air for Kuroo to use a quick serve, a point for Nekoma.

**"Good job guys! Keep your guard up!"** Nene shouts out words of encouragement for her team. Yamamoto serves the ball; Karasuno receives the ball for a chance ball. Their libero gave the ball to the large male of number three. Yaku quickly save the ball for Kenma to throw the ball into the air. Kuroo stealthily pauses his jump then spike the ball when Karasuno's block is down. Nene turns behind her to see a grinning Nekomata who is looking a pissed off Ukai. Ukai glares at Nekomata.

**"Sensei…"** Nene sighs.

* * *

She watches Ukai stands from his seat, shouting out words of encouragement. Karasuno changes from standard to mainly offense. She watches the little raven's points grew into twenty points while Nekoma have twenty-two points. Naoi blows on his whistle for a short break. Nene quickly hands the boys their water and towels. All of Nekoma form a circle to listen to Nekomata, Nene stands between Kuroo and Nekomata.

**"Don't rush things. Understood?"** Nekomata said. **"Keep your connections solid."**

**"…Pay attention to Karasuno's offense. They are bound to get a weakness sooner or later."** Nene adds on to the conversation. The team of Nekoma shouts out yes as the whistle blows for the end of break.

**Karasuno – 22, Nekoma – 23**

Nene is at the edge of her seat when her left foot bounces in nervousness. On her lap is her clipboard laid out forgotten. She grabs a candy from her bag to calm her nerves. A smile appears on her face when Kenma taps the ball to Karasuno's side, a point for Nekoma. She got to admit that Karasuno is good on offense but their defense needs practice.

_'Their stamina is good.'_ Nene thought to herself. She watches Yamamoto blocks Hinata but number one spike the ball to earn a point for Karasuno. At Nene's right side is Nekomata who seems on edge also when Karasuno have twenty three points.

**"Number three is on vanguard now with the two small oni."** Nekomata comments out loud. Nene grips on her mechanical pencil on her right hand.

**"Karasuno are focus on offense now…but their defense becomes weak in the process."** Nene said, grabbing Nekomata's attention. She watches the large man of number three spiking the ball to Nekomata. Yaku quickly saves the ball, only to let the ball fly to Karasuno's side. Number three of Karasuno spikes again but Fukunaga blocks it. Another chance ball for Karasuno, Nekoma remains on guard for Karasuno's attacks.

_'The game…is not over.'_ Nene comments in her mind. She watches Hinata runs to the other side of the net. Hinata spikes the ball to Nekoma's side but Yaku saves it. Another member of Nekoma attempts to hit the ball into the air but it fell down to the ground. Her grey eyes watch Kenma flying towards the ball, stretching towards it. His hand hit the ball into the air to Karasuno's side. She watches the ball fall down to Karasuno's side. Hinata and their short libero attempts to save it but the ball touch the ground.

Nekoma won the practice match against Karasuno. She places her clipboard on the bench and slowly walks to her team. Nekoma's volleyball members shout out in happiness from their victory. Kuroo watches Yamamoto giving Kenma a ruffle on his head. Nene smiles at her team. She turns to Kenma then gives him two thumbs up.

**"Great job Kenma-san."** She said. Kenma looks down with his cheeks slowly turning pink,** "Thank you…"** He whispers.

**"Once more!"** Hinata shouts out, **"Let's do it!"** grabbing everyone's attention. Nene looks at Hinata, she cannot help but smile a little from his energy. Nekomata responds to Hinata's energy.

**"I like that. That's what a practice match is for, so we can do it again."** He said. She left the boy's side to watch both teams play until the sun slowly goes down for the day.

* * *

Nene looks at her notes of observation. She looks up from her notes to see both sides slowly tired out. The Nekoma's manager felt worried for her team, she jolts in surprise when Hinata still have energy left as he shouts out one more time. Ukai pulls on Hinata's back collar as he struggles to get out of his coach's grip. Both teams switch to their opponent's coaches. Nene looks at Karasuno's members as she stands besides Naoi. She tilts her head when she listens to Nekomata's history with Karasuno's old coach. Nekomata praises for Hinata and Kagayama's teamwork then praises everyone else next. At the final note, he wants them to meet them at the national tournament in the future.

* * *

The Nekoma manager lends a hand to Karasuno's beautiful manager to clean both team's waterbottles at a water faucet. Compare to the beautiful manager, Nene felt shorter and plain looking beside her. Both of them exchange introductions. After their introductions, they seem to get along with each other.

**"Your team is strong, Kiyoko-san."** Nene said with a smile on her face. Kiyoko nods, **"Nekoma is strong too."** Nene hands Kiyoko the clean water bottle to her and starts cleaning another one.

**"I will help them anyway I can."** Nene promises herself. "**Team Nekoma will be the best volleyball team throughout Japan."** Her right hand form into a fist as she lifts it into the air. Kiyoko gave gentle smile at the short female. A moment of silence between them until Nene heard a soft sneeze from Kiyoko. She said bless you to Kiyoko then suddenly she let out a quiet sneeze. Kiyoko said bless you to Nene, they look at each other in confusion.

**"Did something happen…?"** Nene asks Kiyoko. Both females shrug their shoulders when they have no answer for this mystery. They finish with their job and carry their team's empty water bottles inside the gym.

* * *

When entering the gym, Nene watches Inouka conversing with Hinata. Both of them jump into the air in happiness. The manager decides to approach Kuroo and the tall blonde male from Karasuno.

**"What the heck are they talking about?"** The blonde male asks when he watches the energetic duo. Kuroo smirks at the male as he watches with him. Nene stands beside Kuroo's left as she listens to both of them.

**"They don't sound like they're in high school."** Kuroo comments. **"But you on the other hand, maybe you should loosen up more, like a real high schooler."**

**"I'm not good at that sort of thing."** The blonde answers then walk away from Kuroo and Nene. Kuroo only chuckles, **"Ah, youth."**

**"Kuroo-san, don't tease him."** She spokes up. **"Maybe he is not a person who loosens up easily around people."**

She let out a noise of annoyance when he wraps his left arm around his shoulder and his other hand pokes her right cheek.

**"Hehe. Your cheeks are always so soft, Haya-chan."** Kuroo teases her. He flinches when her fist dug into his left side; her cheeks are dusted pink from his comment. She took this chance to escape from Kuroo's grasp. Nene left Kuroo behind to look for Kenma if he still in the gym.

* * *

**"Here is my number Kiyoko-san if you want to chat."** Nene smiles at Kiyoko.** "We should hang out someday."** Both of them trade cell phones to put their numbers in the contact list. She holds her bag at her left side. They return each other's phones. Kiyoko said goodbye to Nene. Nene waves goodbye to Kiyoko as the black hair manager left. The short female walks to Nekoma's team members. Nene walk to Kenma, both of them watch Yamamoto shook his new friend's hand of Karasuno with a tearful goodbye.

**"What's with them?"** Kenma asks.

She turns to Kuroo with a confused expression on her face. Kuroo only shrugs, **"Dunno. It's quite unusual."** She blinks when number one of Karasuno, Daichi approaches Kuroo. Nene felt an unbearable atmosphere around Kuroo and Daichi grip each other's hands.

**"We won't lose the next time."** Daichi said with a fake smile on his face.

**"We won't lose the next time, either."** Kuroo responds with a fake smile like Daichi. **"Terrifying! They're terrifying!"** Yaku and Sugawara shout out from the distance away from both grinning males. Naoi and Ukai share the same scene like Daichi and Kuroo. Nene sighs,** "…This is a strange day."**

Kenma nods in agreement. Nene heard Hinata calling out to Kenma, she left Kenma with Hinata. She let them talk to each other while she turns her attention to both captains.

* * *

After Nekoma said their goodbyes to their rival Karasuno, they start walking back to their dorms to retire for the day. Their female manager walks beside Inouka. Nene listens to Inouka when he starts talking about his new rivalry with Hinata. She felt tired from writing down notes but it is worth the trouble.

**"I'm glad you guys had fun."** Nene said. Nekoma's volleyball team answers in agreement with a couple of nods. Yamamoto shouts out in happiness, **"Yes! We could see them in the nationals!"**

Yaku kick the back of Yamamoto's leg in response, **"Idiot! Don't shout out loud!"** Nene quietly laughs at the sight of their energetic males. **"I need help making dinner for tonight…"** Nene said out loud when thinking the food for tonight. Yaku looks at the female manager, "**I can help you with that. Hayato-san."** Nene thanks Yaku then they start sharing ideas for dinner. Kuroo and Kenma watch both of them who are walking ahead of the group.

**"I hope it's good like last time Haya-chan."** Kuroo comments to the female. Nene turns her head to Kuroo, giving a fake smile to him. **"Want to starve tonight Kuroo-san? It seems like you do."** Nene answers. Kuroo gave a short laugh, **"You know I'm kidding Haya-chan~"** Kenma looks down at his cell phone with a tiny smile on his face from the banter between Nene and Kuroo. The team watches Nene chase down Kuroo who is running away from her as he continues teasing the female.

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter is done. Sorry for not being active with my stories, I'm busy with my new summer job. I need to make money for the things I wanted! Please be patient with me guys, there will more chapters in different fanfictions in the future. **

**Have a great day everyone!**

**-Fancybunny**


	8. Home sweet home

**Home sweet home**

* * *

It was afternoon when Nekoma's volleyball team and manager return back home from training camp. Nene let out a tiny yawn as she stretches out her stiff back from the long trip. She turns behind her to see Kuroo and Kenma holding their bags. Nene say goodbye to the other volleyball members as they leave for home. Nene walks with Kuroo and Kenma to the train station for home. She walks at Kuroo's left side while Kenma occupy his other side.

* * *

The three of them only sit in silence in the train. The noises of the moving train fill the silence. Nene places lighter bag on her lap as she sit on the train's seat. She notices there are a few people in the train at this time. Kenma looks at his cellphone, his fingers touch the screen while earning points from a simple game. The bed head male took a seat between the two of them. Kuroo looks bored while looking around for anything of interest. Nene's larger bag takes the empty seat at her left side. She took this time to read a short novel from her smaller bag. She suddenly closes her book, catching Kuroo's attention. Kuroo raise his left eyebrow at her.

**"Something wrong, Haya-chan?"** Kuroo asks. Nene raises her head up to look at him. **"It's nothing. I have fun with you guys." **Nene answers with a smile on her face. Kuroo held a cat-like grin. **"Oh?"** He said in a teasing tone. Nene blankly stares at Kuroo.

**"At least you like being our manager."** Kuroo said with a shrug. Kenma took his eyes off his cell phone to look at Nene and Kuroo.

**"Thank you."** Nene thanks the both of them. **"I will do my best to help you guys to the best volleyball team in the world." **

**"We'll hold you to that promise then, Haya-chan~"** Kuroo said with a grin. Kenma nods once, agreeing with his friend.

* * *

**"You guys don't have to walk me home…"** Nene mumbles, holding her small bag at her side. Kuroo waves his hand in dismissal, holding her larger bag with his bag. **"No worries, besides our house in this direction." **Kuroo said. Kenma place his hands in his pockets, walking at Nene's left side. Kuroo walk at Kenma's left side.

She knows that her house is nearby and their homes are a few blocks away from her home. Her neighborhood seems quiet since it is almost eight at night. The sky seems to darken slowly as they walk past a few houses in her neighborhood. The teens stop at the gate of one house, Nene's house. Her home seems to be traditional style housing with a simple garden at the front of the house. The metal gate was opened by Nene as she took one step on the stone ground that leads to the front door. Nene thanks Kuroo for carrying her bag as she carries it in her left hand.

**"Thank you guys for walking me home."** Nene said. Kuroo ruffles her hair as he said goodbye to her. He left Kenma and Nene by themselves to give them time to talk.

**"Be careful Kenma-san on your way back home. I bet Kuroo-san will be with you in the weekends**." Nene comments with a short laugh. Kenma shakes his head, **"Don't joke like that. You'll make it come true." **

**"Sorry, I couldn't help it."** Nene laughs quietly with a smile on her face. Kenma gave a small smile to her. Both of them said their goodbyes and parted ways. Nene watch their backs becoming smaller and smaller each second from her home. She walks to the front door to put her house key in the lock. Nene opens the front door to see the kitchen's lights on. She closes the door behind her and removes her outdoor shoes to replace it with sky blue slippers.

**"Mom! Dad! I'm home."** Nene calls out. She walks on the wooden floors to see her mother, Aiko's head poke out from the kitchen's doorway.

**"Welcome home, sweetie. How was your trip?"** Aiko asks with a warm atmosphere surrounding her.

**"It was interesting to see how the Nekoma's team plays."** Nene answers. She carries her bags in her room to return to the kitchen.

* * *

When he saw his daughter, he quickly left his chair to run to her. **"My precious baby has returned! Does the boys done anything to you?!" **Hiro asks while checking his daughter for any changes. "**I'll make them regret that they are ever born if do anything to my child."** He promises out loud. Nene nervously laughs at her father's behavior. Aiko only smiles at the scene in front of her. Nene grabs his arms to stop him.

**"No dad, they are nice guys."** Nene answers with a pout on her face.

**"You didn't know that! Men want only want one thing. It's- Ow ow ow! My love that hurts!"** Hiro cries out when he was interrupted by Aiko who is pinching his right cheek.

**"Dear, let our child make her own decisions. She is allowed to make friends with boys." **Aiko said with an unsettling smile on her face. Hiro nods slowly, he rubs his right cheek as Aiko releases her grip on him. Aiko returns to a warm smile to her daughter, **"I'll warm up some leftovers for you. Dear, go to your seat so we can hear Nana-chan's time in training camp. "** She said. Hiro slowly nods as father and daughter took their seats at the dinner table.

* * *

Nene finishes her food to tell her parents her time at training camp. Her parents drink their green tea while listening to their daughter. She told them of her team liking her cooking to their match against Karasuno. Aiko could see her daughter's eyes shine when she describes the match in great detail. Hiro listens to his daughter talk about the male's skill in volleyball, trying to hold in his comments of telling his daughter to stay away from males. He doesn't want to ruin his daughter's good mood. After Nene finishes telling her story, the wall clock tells them it is almost nine.

**"Oh my, that is quite a story you had~ Well it's time for us to retire for the day."** Aiko left her seat to kiss on top of her daughter's head. **"Have a good sleep, sweetie."** Nene nods then say good night to her parents. She heard her father say good night also before leaving to her bedroom.

* * *

Her room is average size, a large wooden bookshelf that is next to her window that has various subjects. Her bed was made before she left for her trip that is in the corner of the wall that is next to the door. Nene slowly unpacks her stuff from her large bag until a small yawn left her lips. _'I guess I'll finish unpacking tomorrow…'_ She thought before changing to her pajamas. The teen turns off the light in her room. Nene quickly snuggles in her blankets as she lay down in her bed. Everyone retires for the night.

* * *

A familiar ringtone caught the groggy teen's attention. She was awoken from her deep sleep by her ringtone. Slowly, Nene tries to get out of bed but it's a slow process. The teenager is at the edge of her bed only to fall out her bed. A quick yelp left her lips as her face plants of the wooden floor. Her cell phone still rings as Nene stands up from her fall. She walks to her small bag to fish out her cell phone from the small pocket. Her tired eyes try to adjust for the unbearable light. Slowly her eyes become adjusted to the light to see the caller. Her eyes widen to see the caller's name. She franticly answers the call.

**"Nii-san! Why are you calling me so early?"** Nene asks over the cellphone.

**"Huhhh? What do you mean? It's ten in the morning! My little imouto is becoming rebellious!" The** male cries in happiness out over the phone. Nene looks at her cell phone with a blank stare.

The person over the cell phone is her free-spirited older brother, Koichi. Last time that she saw her big brother was last year on December. He stands six feet like his father with natural black spiky hair but he dyed his hair into dark red. Koichi left home after he finishes high school to move to Miyagi for college. He finishes his college education at twenty two as a freelance artist and lives in Miyagi. Her older brother visits his family during holidays.

**"It's not that Nii-san, I just come home last night from my trip."** Nene explains. She heard Koichi begin to chuckle.

**"You mean Nekoma's volleyball team? Mom told me about it. I bet Dad is freaking out over that." **Koichi said. Nene nervously laughs, **"You have no idea…"**

**"Anyways, I'm calling you to invite you to my house for a couple of days in next week! I miss talking to my imouto like before."** Koichi said with joy in his voice.

**"Why can't you get a girlfriend then?"** Nene points that out.

**"I'm a bachelor. I love my life not tied down by someone." **Koichi shots down his sister's idea. Nene only sighs. Both of them chat for a while until Nene looks at the clock that is hung on her wall. The time is 10:35 am.

**"Okay, have a good day Nii-san."** Nene said. Koichi said good bye to his sister and Nene hangs up her call.

_'…I guess I'm dead tired from the trip. Time to get ready for the day.' _Nene thought. Luckily for her, today is Sunday. She grabs a set of clean clothes with her in the bathroom. Today, she spends her day to go out and relax for the day.

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter is done! I will upload more chapters when I have time to work on it. Thank you all for being patient. Leave a review of your thoughts or any helpful tips for this fanfiction. Have a great day everybody!**

**-Fancybunny**


	9. Big brother Koichi

**Big brother Koichi**

* * *

It felt like time goes by quickly when staying with Nekoma's volleyball team. Nene stood by the right side of the volleyball's net. Her grey eyes focus on the members when practicing receiving the ball from Naoi-sensei. In her hands is her clipboard and mechanical pencil as she wore down the results on paper. _'Everything seems fine…they need to learn how to react better with speed attacks like Hinata-san.'_ She thought. Nene's hair was pulled back into a ponytail to avoid distractions. She looks down at her work to see anything out of place. At least her notes seem to make sense as she practice more on her observations. Nene snaps her head up when Naoi's whistle rings throughout the gym for the end of practice.

Nene let out a gentle sigh. She ignores the volleyball members that walk past her. _'We just need more practice so we can get better before the international round.'_ Nene thought to herself. She flips past a few notes on her clipboard to see a paper that shows their first opponent. _'We don't know much of that school but we cannot let our guard down.' _Nene nods then let's go of the papers to cover the official matches of the internationals.

* * *

The day slowly ends for Nene and the team. She stood with Kenma and Kuroo as they say goodbye to the other members. Kenma held his volleyball in his hand while walking beside Nene's right side. Kuroo follows both of them as Nene looks out with her bag at her side. They changed from their school uniforms for their volleyball team's comfortable sweats. Nene looks before her to see the environment around her. The neighborhood seems quiet since the time now seems to be late afternoon. Kenma distracts himself by throwing the ball in the air and catching it in his hands.

**"I will be gone for a couple of days."** Nene said, breaking the silence between them. **"Sorry for this short notice, my brother wants me to visit me in Miyagi." **

A hand on top of her head made her to look up to Kuroo. **"It's fine Haya-chan, make sure you bring something when you come back." **

**"Kuroo-san…"** Kenma said with a sigh. Nene pushes Kuroo's hand away from her head, avoiding a future hair ruffling. **"Fine, you guys better watch your health when I'm gone." **Nene said in a serious voice.

* * *

**"Sorry for the mess, I'm in a middle of a project."** Koichi apologizes to Nene. He wears a long sleeved blue shirt with black jeans. He carries his little sister's traveling bag to the second level of his home by using the stairs. Nene avoids knocking down any paint cans near her feet in the living room. Apparently his living room is connected to his art room.

**"An important customer, Nii-san?"** Nene asks. Koichi opens one door at the end of the hallway to show the guest room. **"You know every customer is important to me. He wants something interesting for his office's break room."** Koichi said with a large smile on his face. He places Nene's luggage down next to the bed. "**Oh yeah, I heard there will be a tournament nearby. I think it is a volleyball tournament…"** He added. Nene tilts her head in confusion.

**"Volleyball tournament?"** She asks. Koichi scratches the back of his head, trying to remember more about it. Somehow it peaks Nene's interest when she thought of the possibilities of new volleyball moves for Nekoma. Koichi smiles when seeing his sister's eyes begin to sparkle. Finally he remembers more about the volleyball tournament.

**"Oh yeah, I believe it's an international tournament for nearby schools around here. Isn't Nekoma going to go there in a couple of days?"** Koichi asks. Nene nods slowly.

**"Didn't you attend Nekoma High a long time ago?"** She asks. Koichi points to himself with a smile on his face.

**"Yep, my high school was Nekoma but I didn't attend any sport teams." **He explains. Both of them left the room to go downstairs.

**"What you do for after school activity then?"** Nene asks, curious about her big brother's past.

**"The Nekoma art club."** Koichi answers. **"Before that I was a hot blooded troublemaker, I think I was part of a gang one time. You should have seen mom. She is a demon when she found out that I was almost expelled from school."** With that, Koichi shivers from the thought of his mother's wrath.

_'Mother is the boss of the house that is for sure.'_ She thought. Nene continues to listen to Koichi's time in high school.

**"I was forced to join the Art Club since I need to graduate from Nekoma High. Mom thought I need to express my feelings through painting. To my surprise it worked, I spend my free time painting. For some reason, people start to hire me to paint them something." **Koichi said. **"My comrades didn't take it so well since they thought I abandon them." **Nene took a seat at the small dining table while Koichi serves tea for both of them.

**"What happened to your 'friends'?"** Nene asks. Koichi holds a tray of a small pot filled with water with two empty cups. He filled Nene's cup with green tea and gives the cup to her. Nene thanks him and took a sip of her hot tea.

**"They kicked me out from the group…but they try to beat me up first. I kind of put them in the hospital. I think I broke one person's nose."** Koichi said, joy in his voice. Nene coughs when her tea accidently went to her lungs. Once she ends her coughing fit, Nene points at a happy Koichi.

**"That is nothing to be proud of Koichi-nii!" **She shouts out.

**"It is! Besides I got a battle scar from it too!"** Koichi shouts happily. He rolls up his left sleeve upwards to show a long scar from his shoulder to his elbow. **"See! This is from someone's knife."**

**"Where I was when this happened?!"** Nene angrily asks. **"Oh you were an innocent imouto. I think you were in your room, reading when you come back from school."** Koichi answers. **"You believed me when I said I got this from my Art Club when dealing with wooden printmaking." **

**"…I was an idiot then."** Nene mumbles.

**"No, you were just a bundle of innocence~"** Koichi comments out loud. Nene scoffs, **"I won't be making dinner then." **She hates it when Koichi took a moment to tease her about her young self. Koichi gasps loudly when he felt like an arrow stabs in the heart as he clutches his chest. She hid a smirk from her brother's broken form. **"Please imouto, I only eat fast foods or instant soup. I miss your cooking!"** Koichi cries out.

**"No, you decide to tease me so you have to pay for it."** Nene said then drinks from her cup of tea. After finishing her tea, she excuses herself from the dining room with Koichi quickly try to follow her.

**"Forgive me imouto! I will do anything for a taste of your cooking!"** Koichi cries out. Nene spends the day ignoring her brother's plea until she finally was swayed by the words of bribery when it was night time. At least Koichi have dinner made by his little sister. He ignores his wallet crying out in pain from its recent spending.

* * *

**Extra:**

A sneeze comes from Kenma caught his volleyball's team attention. The Nekoma volleyball team just finished practice for today.

**"Ah Kenma-san's caught a cold!"** Inouka shouts out. Kenma looks at Inouka with an annoyed expression. **"Shut up Inouka. I don't have a cold."** Kenma explains. Inouka wants to make sure that their setter is healthy as a horse since their manager is absent for the moment. Kuroo can hear Yamamoto trying to keep in his sobbing down.

**"Ah I miss Hayato-chan already."** Yamamoto whines, only to receive a kick to the back of his leg by Yaku. **"Idiot, don't cry!" **Yaku shouts at a dishearted Yamamoto. Kuroo glares at Yamamoto with a cold smile on his face. **"Yamamoto…if you have that much energy left. Start running until you drop!"** Kuroo orders Yamamoto. Yamamoto tries to apologize but Kuroo forces him to run around the volleyball court. _'Hope you have more fun over there, Hayato-san.' _Kenma thought.

* * *

A tiny sneeze comes from Nene. She sniffles when looking up from her cooking on the stove. Koichi slides past the entrance of the kitchen when he heard his sister's sneeze. **"Are you alright, imouto?"** Nene turns her head to Koichi, **"Yeah…it just a sudden sneeze." **She turns back to cooking. Koichi nods then thinks for a moment. **"Probably someone is talking about you." He** points that out. Nene looks at Koichi again with her face turns blank. **"Nii-san, you believe that stuff?" **She asks.

**"Of course! You should too."** Koichi answers. **"Hm…I guess but I will believe it when it is true."** Nene mumbles.

* * *

**A/N: Chapter eight is done! Sorry for not updating with new chapters... I was stuck on finding ideas for this chapter. Hope you like Koichi's personality, I think I know where he got his dramatic side from. Thank you for being patient! I love you all and hope you have a great day!**

**-Fancybunny**


	10. Determination

**Determination**

* * *

**"Koichi-nii, hurry up. I don't want to miss anything."** Nene calls out to her brother, walking ahead of him. She wore a long sleeve blue shirt with black jeans and brown combat boots. Her zip up bag is hung on her right shoulder. Koichi seems to wear blue rip jeans with a white shirt and black sneakers. Over his shirt is a black leather jacket, giving him a tough appearance with his dyed red hair.

**"Calm down, imouto…we are not going to be late. We have a few minutes to spare before the game starts."** Koichi said. When Koichi finally catch up to his little sister's side, they seem to be way different when compared to each other. Nene stops at one vending machine close to the building. Koichi stops to see Nene, she waves off her brother.

**"Go ahead and save a couple of seats for us, I'll get something to drink for both of us."** Nene explains. A couple of yards away from Nene are a volleyball group wearing white with sea green designs. The volleyball team ignores the siblings and enters the building**. "You better get my favorite drink."** He said before entering the building. Koichi decides to take a trip to the restroom before finding seats for both of them.

Nene put the required change in the vending machine to get Koichi's drink first then orders hers next. She grabs the two drinks from the machine and stands up. Nene turns her head to the right side when she heard girl's squealing nearby. She sees a few girls crowding around one tall volleyball member with brown hair. Shrugging her shoulders, Nene walks towards the entrance of the building with two drinks in her hands.

At the corner of her left eye, she saw the male accepting a cookie from one female_. 'I guess he is famous…'_ She thought. A loud thump is heard follow by cries of girls.

**"Oikawa-san?!"** One female cries out. Nene heard someone calling out.

**"Oi! Heads up!"** One male voice shouts out. She pauses then turns her head to the source of the noise. Nene's eyes widen to see a volleyball drop down from the air to her occupied arms. She just barely caught the ball, just by pure luck. The female teen looks around confused until one volleyball member with spiked up black hair jogs to her.

**"Sorry about that… "** The male apologizes to her and takes the ball from her arms. The tall brunette male cries out in pain to see his teammate ignoring him. Nene shakes her head, **"N-no…it's fine. Accidents happened."** She excuses herself from the event to enter the building to look for her brother. Both of the male players seem to catch her interest, _'Aobe Johasai…'_She mumbles.

* * *

Luckily, the siblings find seats at the front. Nene saw a familiar volleyball team. She could see Aobe Johashi's team taking their seats a row away from them. Nene found a familiar team from the court, preparing a practice hit for a while. _'Karasuno, I wonder how much you changed from last time.'_ She thought with a smile on her face. Koichi saw a smile on her face, **"Do you know them?" **

**"Yes, Karasuno played against us in a practice match. They are an interesting team." **Nene answers. Koichi nods then looks at the team of Karasuno.

**"Nanami-san!"** A voice calls from the court. Nene looks down to see Hinata waving at her with a wide grin. It seems that Hinata got his team's attention. She waves hello to the team**. "Have fun you're your matches, Karasuno." **She said with a smile on her face. Suddenly her expression becomes serious.

**"Show them what your power is, Karasuno… I want to see you guys against Nekoma."** Nene mumbles to herself then returns to her seat beside her big brother, Koichi.

The whistle rings for the start of the volleyball match. Her grey eyes look at the opposite side of the court that is going against Karasuno. '_Hm…not using your quick attacks? Interesting.' _She thought. Nene turns her head to the left, seeing two coaches from Aobe looking at Karasuno. Her eyes flicker to the team of Aobe for a second, a possibility to see anything useful. _'No good, I guess I have to see them in a match to see anything…' _She took a mental note. Her grey eyes look down to the match, she sighs when Hinata didn't save the ball. **"They still need improvement in receiving…"** Nene whispers softly, catching Koichi's attention. Koichi could see her eyes shine when seeing Karasuno playing.

* * *

It seems that Karasuno's opponent is not giving up yet. Nene could see that Karasuno is in the league with a few points. The whistle rings throughout the court for the end of the match, Karasuno won the match. **"Wow, Karasuno is good."** Koichi comments, **"I can see why you are so interested in that team." **

Nene nods her head. **"Dateko against Karasuno…their absolute defense verses Karasuno's rough offense." **She mumbles. Koichi tilts his head, lost in thought. **"I guess Dateko's defense will win this match." **He concluded. Nene only shrugs her shoulders as she looks at the volleyball court. She begins to think of many possibilities. _'I don't know about this match now. I guess I have to believe in Karasuno's rough offense.' _She thought, and then let out a quiet laugh. They will agree this one thing. Both siblings will have fun watching this match.

* * *

**Extra 2: Height**

**[After practice against Karasuno]**

**"Um, Hayato-san?"** Inouka approaches the female manager. Nene turns her head to the tall brunette male. **"Oh Inouka-san, is everything okay?"** She asks the male. A couple of yards away from both of them are Nekoma's team with Karasuno. In response to her question, Inouka shook his head.

**"I was wondering how tall you are?"** Inouka ask with a carefree smile on his face. After his question, it seems the gym went dead silent. Nene blink once then blinked again, **"Huh?" **Yaku rushes to Inouka to yell at him, **"Inouka-san! You don't ask girls that question!"**

Kuroo interrupts Yaku from kicking Inouka down. **"I'm curious about Haya-chan's height…" **Kenma who stood next to Hinata, stares at his friend with a frown on his face. Hinata's eyes shine as he shouts out loud, **"Ohh, my height is 162.8 cm!" **

**"Now it is your turn, Haya-chan."** Kuroo said with a smirk on his face.

Having most of the males looking at the short female manager, Nene felt cornered. Her right eye twitch in annoyance, she let out a heavy breath.

**"My height is 163 cm…"** Nene answers, her cheeks felt hot from embarrassment.

**"Hehe, I guess our manager just barely taller than Hinata."** Kuroo comments out loud. Nene snaps her head to glare at the bedhead male. Kenma shook his head at Kuroo's comment, **"Stop teasing her Kuroo…"** He warns him.

**"Huh...?They seem pretty close..."** Daichi comments. The other Nekoma's team members shake their head when Nene chases Kuroo around the gym.

**"Not really..."** They answered Daichi's question.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for being gone for a long time! I had to return back to my classes, they took up most of my time. Thank you for all my readers for hanging on. I miss you all! Hope everyone have a great day.**

**-Fancybunny**


	11. Loss

**Loss**

* * *

_After leaving the volleyball tournament after Karasuno's victory against Dateko, Nene returned back home from her trip with new ideas for Nekoma. The days quickly past by until Nekoma join the tournament in their area. Everything went well for Nekoma until their next match. Their plans were soon exterminated with ease. Nene found herself at a loss, thinking up new ideas to help the Nekoma volleyball team. Every time she found a solution, it is quickly shot down by their opponent's counter. _

_'What I do now? Everyone is doing their best…I want to help them but it is not good enough…'__ Nene thought. Her right hand clutched the medicinal pencil tightly. Before long the whistle rung in the gym, signaling the end of the game. _

_Nekoma lost the match._

* * *

Nene listens to her teacher who stands at the front of the classroom. Her pencil scribbles down on her notebook, copying what is on the whiteboard to her paper. Mai saw Nene's blank eyes; she turns back to her work. After a long lecture, the school bell rings for the end of class. Nene slowly puts away her stuff away in her bag. She left the classroom with her bag hung from her left shoulder. Now she starts a long walk to the gym where Nekoma's volleyball team is.

Entering the gym, she was greeted by the members. Nene notices that Kuroo and Kenma are not present. She says hello back then went to the bench where Naoi and Nekomata are occupied. Nene bows her head to both of them, **"Sorry for taking long."** Nekomata waves off her apology, reassuring her that everything is fine. Nene places her bag down next to the bench to do her regular duties for the team. Nekomata watches their manager's from afar. Naoi notices the manager's somber mood.

**"…I guess it hit Hayato-san hard too**." Naoi comments. Nekomata shakes his head, **"No, she needs time to think." **Naoi looks at Nekomata with confusion but for now he remains silent.

The door opens to reveal Kenma and Kuroo with someone following behind them. A tall male with silver hair wears Nekoma's school uniform. The team greeted both of them, Yamamoto and Inouka jogs towards the duo. **"Oi, who is he?" **Yamamoto asks, pointing at the tall student. Yaku joins the conversation then he kicks the back of Yamamoto's knees.

**"Yamamoto! Don't point at someone!" **Yaku shouted. The student decides to speak up, **"My name is Haiba Lev. Nice to meet you all!" **

Kuroo nods his head, **"He wants to join the team."** He said. Suddenly Yamamoto asks Lev why he has a tall height.

**"Oh, I'm half Russian."** Lev simply answers. Lev saw Yaku then blinks for a second. **"Wow, you are short."** Lev bluntly said. The gym grew silent then Yaku snaps his head to the tall Russian. In response to Lev's bluntness, Yaku kicks Lev's back. Lev cries out in pain from the libero's strength.

**"What is going on here?"** A female voice is heard from the doorway. The men turn to the door to see Nene holding a metal basket full of water bottles. Yamamoto quickly rushes to Nene's aid, holding the basket for her. **"I got it, Hayato-chan!"** Yamamoto said happily. Nene thanks him while he walks away, Lev's green eyes focuses on the female manager. Nene felt a bit uneasy under Lev's stare.

**"Um..."** Nene spoke up, trying to break the awkward atmosphere between them. Kuroo slaps Lev's upper back to wake him up. **"Oi, don't make our manager uncomfortable."** Kuroo comments. Lev blinks a couple of times then bows his head to her.

**"Sorry! My name is Haiba Lev!"** Lev introduces himself to the manager. Nene nods her head to him, **"Nice to meet you. My name is Hayato, Nanami."**

**"Hey Hayato-chan! Where do I put this?"** Yamamoto calls out to her. Nene turns her attention to Yamamoto to jogs towards him.

**"On the bench is fine, Yamamoto-san."** Nene answers.

**"She is really short."** Lev comments out loud. Yaku caught the tall russian's comment then digs his fist into Lev's left side. Lev cries out in pain.

* * *

Nene stares at the court, watching the team practice. Lev was given gym clothes to wear for practice. For now, Kuroo tests out Lev's skill with the volleyball. A ball is flying towards Lev, his arms form quickly to hit the ball. The ball is received by Lev but the ball flies to the side of the court. _'…His stature is useful for defense…'_ Nene thought then writes it down on her notebook. She chews on a piece of candy in her mouth while observing.

Next test for Lev is serving; he holds the ball in his left hand and throws it into the air. Nene watches Lev fail with serving as the ball hit on top of his head_. 'I guess he doesn't play volleyball before.'_ Nene thought. She remembers Lev's words before the start of practice.

* * *

_**"I will be the best ace!" **__Lev shouted out when he saw Nekoma playing a short match. His eyes sparkled when seeing Inouka spike the ball to the opponent's side, winning a point for his team. Nene only looked at the new member from the bench. Her grey eyes study the male carefully. _

**_"Watch his process, Nene." _**_Nekomata said, sitting on edge of the bench. Nene takes out her notebook and pencil. __**"Okay…" **__She mumbled._

* * *

**"…We have a lot of work to do."** Kuroo sighs. Nene saw the bed head male turn his attention to her. She remains silent before speaking up.

**"I have nothing to add…"** Nene said. The team looks at the manager who turns her attention to her notes. Lev tilts his head in confusion.

Practice is done for the day, Nene stood outside of the gym to wait for Kenma and Kuroo. She carries her school bag then pulls out her notebook. Reading the page of Lev's process, Nene is lost in thought._ 'Lev needs more practice since he only starts volleyball for the first time. He might have potential but I'm not sure.'_ She turns the next page of her notes.

Nene felt something on her head; she looks up to see Kuroo grinning at her. Letting out an unhappy grumble, Nene felt his hand messing with her hair. She slaps away his hand.

**"Don't do that Kuroo-san."** Nene said then walks away from them. She puts away her notebook in her bag. Kenma and Kuroo look at each other then follows her.

* * *

All of them had a silent walk to the train station. When entering their train, Kenma sits at the end of the seat. Kuroo sits between Kenma and Nene. Nene takes out her notebook again from her bag to fish out a red pen. Her focus is on her notebook.

**"Anything interesting, Haya-chan?"** Kuroo asks. Her right hand that holds her pen stops instantly. Grey eyes looks up at Kuroo. Her eyes look down at her notes to see red ink covering most of her notes.

**"No, I found a lot of mistakes that might ruin our plans." **Nene answers. She returns to correcting her mistakes. Kuroo's mouth forms a tiny frown when seeing the words in red ink on her paper.

'Not good enough.'

'More improvement.'

'Bad move.'

* * *

**"No…" **Nene mumbles quietly. After parting from her friends, she locks herself in her room. She sits on her chair with her notebook lay out on her desk. Her black desk lamp lights up the dark bedroom. Two books lay opened to different pages in front of her. She rubs her forehead with her left hand to ease an oncoming headache. Her right hand holds her red pen to write on a blank page.

_'Maybe this will work…' _She thought. Her pen froze in place, not able to write anymore. Nene sighs then place her pen down to shift her head to the right side of the room. Her bed remains untouched as the electronic clock glows on her nightstand.

**11:01 PM**

_'At least…I finished my homework before working on new plans for the team.'_ She thought. Her vision becomes blurry for a second. A small yawn left her lips. Nene left her seat to get ready for bed. Her hand reaches for the lamp to turn it off. Darkness colors the room,_ ' I need to work harder…' _She thought. Nene blacks out when her head touches her pillow.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry everyone! I'm busy with classwork and have to study for a test ugh. Thank you for reading this fanfiction. I hope everyone is well and have an awesome day!**

**-Fancybunny**


	12. The Self-Proclaimed Ace

**The Self-Proclaimed Ace**

* * *

Finally it is Sunday morning for Nene. Leaving the household for the day, Nene wears her sneakers before walking past the front door. She said goodbye to her parents then close the door behind her. Adjusting her bag on her left shoulder, Nene heard a voice calling to her. She looks ahead to see Kuroo waving to her with Kenma standing next to him. Quickly she approaches the boys to say hello to them. As usual Kuroo messes with her hair, Kenma is looking down at his handheld system, distracted with a new game he recently bought. Kenma looks up at both of them.

**"Hello, Hayato-san."** Kenma greets her then returns to his game.

**"Kuroo-san!"** Nene yells out before smacking his hand away. Kuroo gave his usual smirk to her then they start walking to the train station.

* * *

Nene stretches her arms to the air when they left the train station. She looks at Kenma who walks a couple steps ahead of them. **"Tired already, Haya-chan?"** Kuroo asks. Nene lets out a soft sigh before looking ahead.

**"No, I'm worried about my next door neighbor. She said that her cat doesn't come home from last night."** Nene answers. She looks down with a tiny frown on her face, **"I hope he is safe." **

**"Ah, old lady Saki's cat?"** Kuroo mumbles, **"Don't worry that cat will come back home."** He remembers that Nene is attached to the cat since middle school but never seen the cat in person himself. Nene mentions that the cat doesn't like strangers or she will run away to hide somewhere.

She nods her head, trusting Kuroo's word. Kuroo turns back to Kenma before he jogs to his side.

**"Kenma."** Kuroo calls out. Nene follows him to see the game screen had the words 'Game over.' Kenma had a frown on his face when seeing another loss.

**"That looks pretty hard."** Kuroo comments when seeing Kenma's loss. Nene occupies Kenma's other side to look at the screen with curiosity.

**"Kind of."** Kenma answers.

**"Aren't games supposed to be challenging anyways?"** Nene adds.

**"I suppose you are right…"** Kuroo nods his head in agreement. Kenma looks up from his screen to see both of them. **"I'm slowly getting the hang of it, after thirty hours or so…"** Kenma said. Nene let out a quiet giggle at Kenma's determination. Kuroo let out a sigh then looks down at his friend.

**"I can't believe you don't get bored playing that thing every day."** Kuroo mumbles then smiles at him.

**"If you've got that much free time, let's practice volleyball."** He said. Kenma blankly stares at the bed-head male.

**"I am practicing. That's why we're here at school on a Sunday morning, right?"** Kenma replies. Nene walks a couple steps ahead of them to walk up the steps. She walks past the school gates then jogs forward. Nene stops to look back at the slow walking teens.

**"Hurry up guys, we don't want to make the team wait."** Nene calls out to them. She turns her back to them before continue walking to the gym.

* * *

Kuroo opens the gym door for Nene to enter, she thanks him. Inouka looks at the doorway to see Nene with her friends.

**"Ah! Kuroo-san, Kenma-san, Hayato-san! Good Morning!"** Inouka greets them. Yamamoto held one of the volleyball in his hand and greets them also. Nene left the boys behind to help the others get set up for their practice.

**"Hey! Is everyone here?"** Kuroo asks. Inouka seems hesitant to answer, **"Well…" **

Nene raised her left eyebrow when she doesn't see the new member of the team. She left the gym to start getting the clean towels and water bottles from inside the gym. The team starts talking among themselves. Yaku let out a scoff, **"I keep telling him that first-years should be early, that idiot!"** Yamamoto finishes putting up the net before speaking up, **"At least without him here, it's quiet so I don't mind. He's probably just taking his sweet time again."**

Yaku smiles at Yamamoto's comment, **"He's like a stray cat." **

Kuroo and Kenma adjust their shoes before a meow caught their attention. Both of them look behind them to see Lev holding an orange cat in his hands.

**"Morning!"** Lev said with a grin on his face.

**"Waltzing in late, like you own the place, as usual."** Kuroo said, standing up straight when finishing tying his sneakers. The cat let out a meow of annoyance before jumping out of Lev's hands to escape outside. Nene returns to the room with clean towels in her arms to place it on the bench. She looks up to see Lev at the doorway, the male saw the female and wave hello to her with a grin on his face. Nene nods at Lev in greetings. She goes back to the room to get the rest of the items needed for the day.

* * *

Watching the team practice harder than before, Nene held her notebook to write down anything that caught her attention. She stood besides Naoi's left side. Nekomata who occupies Naoi's other side, sits on the metal chair.

**"Everyone is pumped up today."** Naoi comments with a smile on his face. Nekomata let out a small noise of uncertainty. Nene had a hint of amusement in her eyes when Yamamoto spikes the ball at Lev's side of the court. Lev made a mistake of receiving the ball with his fists instead of his arms.

**"Idiot! We told you to receive with your arms!"** Yamamoto shouts at Lev. Lev turns back to him, **"I'll get it next time. One more time!" **

Naoi let out a small sigh, **"He has good senses doesn't he? His heritage gave him height, length of his legs and arms. It would give him full advantage but…"** Nene watches Lev receiving the ball with ease in the next turn. Sadly, he got distracted by his excitement as the ball almost hit his head when it flies past. Yaku bears his teeth with anger at Lev.

**"LLLLEEEVVVV!" **

The coaches and the manager watch the scene before them. **"That personality of his….he doesn't have the basics down yet, either."** Naoi finishes his sentence. **"There still much we need to teach him…".**Nene nods her head in agreement.

**"If he survives Yaku-san…"** Nene comments when seeing Yaku punching Lev's side.

**"But there are the prelim matches for Spring High. It would be interesting."** Naoi noted. Nekomata watches the students continue the practice round. **"Can't have this…" **The old man mumbles. Nene looks down at her notes, remembering something important.

_'…Kenma-san and Lev-san aren't really in sync.'_ She thought when seeing Kenma throw the ball in the air for Lev to spike but no luck as the ball simply falls down on the court of their side. Lev turns to Kenma with a smile on his face, **"That was close just now, wasn't it!?" **

Kenma looks away from Lev, **"Not really."** He bluntly states. Lev let out a noise of shock, **"That can't be!?" **

**"Nowhere near."** Kenma adds more salt to Lev's pride.

**"One more time please!"** Lev said but Kenma walks away from him, replying no. Nene watches Lev begging Kenma to let him try again but no luck. _'Can Lev-san jump higher than that?'_ Nene thought to herself putting a note on the side of the paper to remind herself.

* * *

The time ticks by for the day turning to afternoon. The new member was separated from the rest of the team to practice hitting the ball. Lev tries to hit the ball into the basket of other volleyballs. The ball only flies to the side, not even close to the edge of the basket. **"It won't go where I want it too."** Lev notes to himself. Inouka approaches the basket with a ball in his hands. He talks to Lev, encouraging him to work harder. Lev smiles at his teammate.

**"Well, even without going, it's only a matter of time before I become the Ace!"** Lev exclaims. Yamamoto heard Lev's words as he glares at the tall student.

**"What was that?!"** Yamamoto shouts out then cracks his knuckles, "**You planning to go against me?!" **

Lev held one of the volleyballs in his hands with confidence. **"Let's battle this with a volleyball match, Senpai."** He challenges Yamamoto. The team looks at Lev with disbelief. Two of the members, Fukunaga and Yaku stood behind Yamamoto. Yaku chuckles quietly behind Yamamoto. Fukunaga simply looks away, trying to hold in his laughter. Yamamoto lets out a sigh.

**"Eh? Did I say something weird?"** Lev asks, confused.

**"Gather up!"** Naoi shouts out. The Nekoma team gathers around then faces Nekomata and Naoi. Nene stood next to Nekomata with her notebook resting at her left arm.

**"On the Saturday after next, we've invited the local Kunihira Senior High team for a practice match." **Naoi announces. The team is visibly surprised as Yaku spoke up.

**"But the Fukurodani group's training is coming soon; this is unusual."** Yaku voices out in concern. Nene looks down at Nekomata who had a cat like grin on his face.

**"And so, Lev, you try playing in that match."** Nekomata said. Naoi with four other guys let out a noise of shock.

**"Ehhh?!" **

**"Really?! Please leave it to me!"** Lev shouts out in joy from the news. Naoi looks at the elder coach with worry.

**"Wait sir, it's still hard for Lev to be in sync with the tosses. It's still too early for him."** Naoi tries to reason with the coach. Nekomata turns to Kenma, **"Carve out some time to throw a few tosses for Lev." **He instructs with pudding hair male.

**"Eh? Impossible."** Kenma replies. Nene looks up to the boys as she watches Lev shout at Kenma.

**"Impossible?! Why impossible?!" **

Nekomata gave a smile towards the team, **"That's all. Do your best!"** The team including Nene gave their thanks the coaches as they left the gym. Nene approaches Kuroo and Kenma. Kuroo looks down at Kenma with a shrug.

**"You heard him."** Kuroo said. Kenma turns away from Kuroo, letting out a sigh of annoyance. Nene looks at Kenma as she pats on his shoulder.

**"Don't worry, Kenma-san. You will do fine."** She gave encouragement to him. **"I believe in you." **

**"Hai…"** Kenma said, knowing he has a long road ahead of him. His cheeks felt warm from her words.

* * *

In the middle of the week during afterschool practice, Nene stood and watches Kenma throw the ball up in the air to let Lev hit the ball. Kenma believes the ball is at the right spot. Kuroo shows a smile. _'Right on target.'_ He thought. Instead of hitting the spot, Lev accidently hits the ball with his head instead of his hand. Kuroo looks at Lev with disbelief since Kenma could easily find the target to throw. The team watches the ball hit the other side of the court. Yamamoto points at Lev, laughing as tears forms at the corner of his eyes.

**"Nice shot!"** Yamamoto laughs out loud. Lev turns to his teammates who stood outside of the court watching them. He gave them a thumbs up, **"A one man time-skip attack!"**

Nene smiles a little at Lev's confidence as Nekomata laughs quietly.

Wearing her uniform, Nene walk between Kenma and Kuroo as all of them walk together to visit a nearby food store. All of the entered the store to get something to eat, Kuroo and Kenma left the store first with their food. For some reason, Lev sticks close to Nene. He grabs a simple lunch pack from the shelf. The first year turns to Nene looking intently at the packed lunches in front of her. The manager looks up at Lev, tilting her head in confusion.

**"Something wrong, Lev-san?"** She asks. Lev shakes his head, **"Not at all senpai!"**

**"Ah…don't call me that. Please call me Hayato-san."** She said. Turning back to the food, Nene grabs a ham sandwich pack then walks away from the male. Quickly Lev follows her as he spoke up again.

**"Can you help me with my spikes, Hayato-san?" **

Nene pauses then turns to the drinks section. **"I can't help you with that. I can only say that you have to practice hard and improve. For now it is up to you and Kenma-san to work on your spikes." **She answers, grabbing a strawberry flavored drink. Lev nods, **"Alright, I will take your word for it!"**

* * *

Both of them meet the remaining guys at the register, paying their food. They left the store to see Kuroo and Kenma sitting at bench, waiting for them. From the left to the right in order of their seats are Yamamoto, Yaku, Lev, Inuoka, Nene, Kuroo, and finally Kenma. Nene took a small bite from her sandwich; she let out a small noise of happiness.

**"Hayato-san is so cute when eating her food!"** Yamamoto comments with joy, watching her from afar. Yaku glares at the Mohawk male, telling him to control himself. Lev unseals his food and splits his chopsticks into two. He took a large bite of his food.

**"I'll be ready in time for the next match!" **Lev exclaims, taking the second bite of his food. Yaku looks at Lev.

**"Where does that confidence of your come from?"** Yaku asks outloud. Nene turns to Yaku. **"It is a mystery…but it is nice to see that much confidence in themselves."** She answers. The libero shrugs his shoulders. **"I guess you are right."** He replies.

**"I'm also going to work harder so that I can become a regular also!"** Inuoka said with confidence. Lev leans towards the brunette.

**"Well I'm not going to become just a regular but the Ace!"** Lev said.

**"People who can't play decent defense don't get call Ace!" **Yamamoto jabs at Lev's confidence. Lev turns to Yamamoto.

**"If I work super hard for the next two weeks with Kenma-san then…"** Lev turns to Kenma, **"Right?"** Kenma had a small frown on his face, looking down at his hand held system in his face.

**"It's no easy feat to be in sync with a mess like you."** Kenma said. **"I'm not Karasuno setter, after all."** Lev blinks for a second, confused of Kenma's comment.

**"Huh? Who's that?"** Lev asks. Inuoka turns to Lev to answer his question.

**"The destined rivals of ours we talked about yesterday." **

**"'The destined battle of the garbage heap.'"** Nene quotes the battle between Karasuno and Nekoma. The female finishes her food and opens her juice can to take a sip from it.

**"Ah! That's 'Karasuno' team from Miyagi?"** Lev mentions. Nene let out a giggle, **"They have amazing first years."** Yaku let out a laugh.

**"A shrimp little middle blocker that spikes with his eyes closed and a setter that perfectly matches him."** Yaku comments. Lev is in awe of the description of the first years.

**"That little shrimp is totally lacked a grasp of the basics too."** Yaku added. Lev blinks for a moment, **"That guy was even scrawnier than you, Yaku-san?"**

Nene winces from the power of Yaku's fist connects to Lev's head when she watches the scene. _'Lev-san should learn by now not to tell Yaku-san about that stuff….' _She thought, feeling a little sympathy for the tall first year. Yaku let out a huff of annoyance. Lev rubs the spot where Yaku hit to ease the pain.

**"But if he's a regular then that means I can also."** Lev said with confidence. Kenma still had his eyes on the game screen, spoke up.

**"You probably suck more."** Kenma shots down Lev's chance of redeeming his confidence. Lev only let out a noise of shock from Kenma's words. Nene pats Lev's left shoulder to give her sympathy.

**"I wonder what they're up to right about now."** Kuroo comments out loud. Nene turns to Kuroo, tilting her head in wonder.

**"Maybe eating something like us."** Nene said, shrugging her shoulders then faces forward.

**"I suppose you are right, Haya-chan."** Kuroo agrees with her. Suddenly, she felt something on her head. A tick of annoyance goes through her body, feeling a familiar shape. Nene smacks Kuroo's hand away from her head.

**"Stop messing with my hair, Kuroo-san!"** Nene turns to him, anger behind her voice.

**"Oho~ No can do, Haya-chan. This is the only way to rile you up this easily."** Kuroo answers with a cat smirk on his face, messing with her hair again. The team watches Nene smacking Kuroo's hand away repeatly until the sixth time. Nene let out heavy breaths then mumbles out I give up.

_'…Hayato-san is giving up!'_ The team thought in shock. They watched Nene sitting still to let Kuroo continue ruffle with her hair. She looks like an annoyed kitty when her mouth formed a tiny frown. For now, Kuroo took advantage this moment until Nene's left fist bury into his side after five minutes passed by.

* * *

**A/N: Finally this long chapter is done! Sorry! All of you had to wait so long for this chapter. I hope everyone enjoys their time with break. Stay happy and safe!**

**-Fancybunny**


	13. Kenma's resolution

**Kenma's resolution**

* * *

Nene points to the way to the gym and turns back to Kuroo and Kenma. **"I'm going ahead to get everything ready for today." **Nene said. Kuroo nods then walks to the small building behind the gym. He calls for Kenma and the pudding hair male follows his friend. She let out a soft sigh, _'Kenma-san is smart enough to fix Lev's problem but…it will take a while for him to adjust.' _

Nene watches Kenma throws the ball into the air to let Yamamoto spike the ball to the other side. She wrote the success in her notebook and looks up again to see Lev next in line to spike the ball. Lev raises his left arm in the air.

**"Please send me a dead-on toss too!"** Lev said. Kenma bears a small frown on his face when looking at Lev's enthusiasm. He grabs a ball from the basket next to him for serving. She watched Lev rushing towards the net, ready to spike. Kenma throws the ball into the air to let the tall freshman hit but misses.

_'…isn't he rushing the ball too fast?'_ Nene thought to herself when Lev blinks for a moment.

**"Huh? That's weird…"** Lev comments. Kuroo who stands at the edge of the court spoke up.

**"Lev! You're running too far! Keep your eye on the ball!"** Kuroo starts to lecture Lev. Another try for Lev cause him to miss the ball again. Kenma blankly stares the ball, Lev turns to him.

**"Kenma-san, please toss faster!"** Lev asks him. Kenma let out a small huff of frustration at his work.

_'I guess it is too slow for Lev…'_ Nene thought, adding in Lev's work in her notebook. _'I hope Kenma-san find a way.'_

* * *

At the train, Kuroo sits between Nene and Kenma. Kenma sits at the edge of the seat looking down at his handheld system at Kuroo's right side. Nene occupies his other side. He tries again to defeat the monster in the game. The female student decides to read her latest notes about Lev, hoping to find a way to help Kenma. Kuroo looks at Kenma's side, breaking the silence.

**"How is it?"** Kuroo asks.

**"How's what?"** Kenma responds. Kuroo looks forward to look at the metal ceiling. **"Watching Lev is kinda fun, isn't it?" **He comments.

**"That's because you're on the outside looking in."** Kenma bluntly states,** "He jumps with different timing every time, and his in-bound hits are flukey at best…I don't know what sorts of tosses to send him." **His fingers ferociously press down some buttons to avoid being killed early in the game. Kuroo looks down at Kenma who stares down at the screen.

**"You still haven't beaten that enemy?"** Kuroo questions. Kenma nods his head then spoke again.

**"Yeah, its attacks are so strong I get taken down in an instant." **

Nene looks up from her book as Kuroo give him a small smile.

**"But the game will be over if you beat him, so isn't it more fun having enemies you can't seem to defeat?"** Kuroo replies. Kenma's eyes narrow at the screen.

**"Not being able to beat something is pretty boring too."**

Kenma throws his head back, letting out a sigh of frustration when he lost the game again. Kuroo raises his right eyebrow at Kenma.

**"Then isn't it best to attack before being attacked? They do say offense is the best defense right?" **Kuroo said, **"Just now, before the enemy attacked, its tail lit up."**

Kenma looks down at his screen. **"Huh? No way…" **Kenma mumbles.

**"Huh? You didn't noticed? I was sure you'd notice. You also tend to lose sight of your surroundings when you're fired up." **

Giving Kuroo a glare, Kenma restarts the game.

**"I'm not fired up."** Kenma mumbles. She returns back to her notes when she heard Kuroo and Kenma argue back and forth.

Nene turns a couple pages back in her notes to see a small side note.

_Learn Lev-san's jump power and measure it out. Don't forget!_

**"Lev-san's jump…"** She mumbles out. Placing her right hand under her chin, Nene found herself lost in her train of thought. A tiny yawn left her lips. _'…Maybe I should sleep early instead of staying up a couple of days…'_ Nene noted. Before she knows it, Nene's head drops down and her eyes slowly close.

Kuroo felt something on his left arm when he looks down. **"Oya?" **He said with a smirk on his face. Nene leans on Kuroo's arm with her school bag at her side and her notebook resting on her lap. Her breaths become soft when falling into a sleeping spell.

**"I guess our little Haya-chan doesn't have a good sleep in a while." **Kuroo mumbles. Kenma looks at up his screen to see the sleeping female at Kuroo's side. The males hear the speakers go off, announcing for their stop. Kuroo tries to wake up the female but no response.

**"Ah, she is a deep sleeper. I guess we have no choice." **Kuroo spoke up. The noise of a bell goes off as the voice over the speaker announces their stop.

* * *

Kuroo had the sleeping female on his back. Her arms lays limp around his shoulders. Her legs are secured by Kuroo's arms. Kenma walks beside Kuroo with his bag and Nene's bag on his shoulder. He watches Nene closely as her head snuggles close to his neck for warmth. Both of them walk through a couple neighborhoods until reaching close to Nene's home.

**"I guess Haya-chan is lighter than I thought." **Kuroo muses to himself with a short chuckle.

**"She is smaller than us…"** Kenma added.

**"Isn't she the same size like the Karasuno's shrimp?"** Kuroo asks. Kenma nods his head as they arrive at the gate of Nene's home. Kenma opens the gate for Kuroo as they walk towards the front door. Kuroo thanks his friend. The boys notices the lights of her home are on, telling them her parents are home. Ringing the bell, the door opened to reveal Aiko wearing an apron.

**"Hello Kozume-kun and Kuroo-kun! It's great to see you boys after a long time."** Aiko greets them with a gentle smile on her face. Kenma mumbles out hello while Kuroo gave her a smile. **"Sorry for not visiting you, Miss Aiko."** Kuroo apologizes. Nene's mother saw her sleeping daughter on Kuroo's back. Quickly, she motions them inside the house.

**"Thank you for bring her home. Could you be a dear and put Nene-chan in her room?"** Aiko politely asks. **"Ah! Do you remember where her room is?"** Kuroo nods his head, he walks upstairs of the house to the end of the hallway. The 3rd year turns to his right side to open the door of Nene's room. He slowly pulls away the blankets then places Nene on her bed. Kuroo covers Nene with her blankets then takes one look of her room.

_'Heh, nothing changed last time I got here.'_ Kuroo silently comments. He quietly left her room and closes the door behind him. Kuroo returns to Kenma and Aiko. Kenma had a small blush on his face as he hands Nene's school bag to her mother. Both students say their goodbyes to the friendly woman as Aiko watch them leave her property.

* * *

**"Such nice boys for my little Nene-chan."** Aiko muses with a gentle smile on her face.

For the next day of volleyball practice, everyone watches Lev and Kenma practice syncing up with each other. Kenma throws up the ball into the air to let Lev hit the ball. Another miss for Lev as Naoi spoke up from outside of the court.

**"Those two just aren't syncing up."** Naoi said with a sigh. Nekotama simply watch them to see Lev move side to side.

**"Kenma-san's starting to focus on me! Does this mean he's beginning to recognize my talents?!"** Lev exclaims with a smile on his face. From afar, Kuroo and Yamamoto blankly stare at the first year.

**"He's just pissed because you're not improving at all."** Yamamoto bluntly states. Lev let out a noise of shock.

**"Ehh?! Kenma-san, are you mad at me?!" **

Without skipping a beat, Kenma replies to him**.**

** "Yeah. Half of me is." **

Lev gasps at Kenma's blunt words. Nene enters the gym with her notebook to approach Kuroo. **"Anything different?"** Nene asks.

**"Nope."** Kuroo answers. Both of them watches Lev talking to Kenma, promising him that he will improve. Naoi spoke up loudly for the team to take a jog outside. The boys slowly walk out the door one by one until Nene calls out to Kenma before he is the last one to leave. Kenma stops at his tracks to let Nene approach him.

**"Kenma-san, do you know how high could Lev-san jump?" **Nene asks. Kenma blinks for a moment then raises an eyebrow at her question.

**"How high?"** He questions out loud. Nene nods her head once.

**"I don't know."** Kenma answers. She tilts her head in confusion.

**"I thought you know already..."** Nene let out a sigh of disappointment then gave him a smile. She pats on Kenma's back. **"You should go now. I'll ask Lev-san when he comes back."**

Kenma mutters out an apology then left the gym to join with the others. Nene places her left hand under her chin. _'Kenma-san doesn't know…?'_

* * *

Kenma jogs slowly, lagging behind the rest of the team. To the setter's surprise, Lev jogs beside him for the rest of the run. Jogging past the bridge that connects to the other side, the team runs along the stone road that shows the view of the river. Kuroo tells the team to keep jogging without walking. After a couple of minutes, He looks behind him to see Kenma and Lev.

**"Hey, we're going ahead!"** Kuroo shouts out to them. Lev responds with a smile, **"Ok!"**

Kenma looks at Lev, **"You can go ahead too."** Lev turns his attention to Kenma.

**"No, I have to work hard to match you, Kenma-san! I have to become Nekoma's Ace!" **

Kenma becomes silent, letting a tired sigh. A loud meow caught their attention as they stopped near the trees. Both of them look around to find the source of the noise. Another meow made them look up to see the orange cat from a couple days ago. The cat cries out in distress as she is stuck on the tree branch unable to get down. She shivers in fear of the height.

**"Ah, it's the cat from before. You can't get down? How you get up there?"** Lev spoke up as he walks down the slope to the tree. Kenma looks at Lev.

**"Eh, can you reach it by jumping?"** He asks a hint of surprise in his voice. Lev turns to Kenma then grins.

**"Piece of cake! Just leave it to me."** Lev said enthusiastically. With a great leap, Lev jumps up almost touching the tree branch where the cat is. The cat only scratches Lev's hand out of fear. Lev let out a gasp of pain looking at his hand. Kenma saw the great leap from the ground to the tree branch.

_'…He can reach that height?'_ He thought to himself. Kenma blinks for a moment when he remembers Nene's question. Shaking his head from his thoughts, He spoke up.

**"If you try to get it that way, you'll scare it and get scratched." **

Lev looks at Kenma, **"What should we do, Kenma-san?" **Kenma looks back at the road, seeing no one in sight. His lips form a frown when one thought come to mind.

Kenma decides to sit on Lev's shoulders as he tries to rescue the frighten cat. The cat only hisses in fright when he reaches towards her. **"It's not working, it's scared stiff…"** Kenma spoke up. Lev looks up at the cat. **"I guess I really spooked it before."** Lev responds. Kenma let out a tired sigh, **"Ugh, I want to quit." **

**"Huh? What are you saying!" **

**"I'm bad with animals in the first place…Hayato-san is better at this." **

After Kenma's answer the winds start to pick up as both of them starts to talk back and forth. Suddenly a harsh gust of wind causes the cat to lose her grip on the branch. Both of them saw the cat fall down from the branch. Kenma quickly tries to catch the cat with his outstretched hands but his arm length is too short. Lev stretches out his arm towards the cat before she hits the ground as he let out a sigh of relief. Kenma's eyes widen to see Lev's length of his arm compared to his. The cat let out an angry hiss as she scratches Lev's arm.

Lev cries out in pain as he tumbles down with Kenma on his shoulders. Kenma lands face first on the grass. Lev still holds out the cat from hurting herself with his face planted on the grass like Kenma. In a moment of distraction, the cat jumps out of Lev's hands and turns to the boys. Lev sits up to see the cat. She let out a meow, almost like thanking them for saving her. The cat walks away from both of them. Kenma slowly gets up from the ground as Lev turns his attention to him.

**"Kenma-san, are you alright?!"** Lev asks with worry. Kenma turns his head to Lev with his nose red like his forehead. A small line of blood from his nose is seen.

**"No. I'm not all right at all!"** Kenma responds. Lev has the same redness like him as he smiles at Kenma.

**"Sorry but the cat is fine, so that's good, right?" **

In a second, Lev had a nosebleed like Kenma. Both of them look at each other then let out a small chuckle.

**"Hey! What are you doing there?"** Kuroo calls out to them. Kenma and Lev looks at the road to see the team looking at them.

**"You guys were taking forever so we came back!"** Inuoka said. Yamamoto glares at them. **"Hurry and get up there! We're running out of time to use the gym!" **He shouts out. Quickly, the boys stand on their feet joining the others. Sadly, Lev couldn't get away from Yaku's wrath as he is kicked on the back.

* * *

She almost had a miniature heart attack when seeing Lev and Kenma's nose bleeding. At least, they got better from their injuries. Nene stood next to Nekotama's right side. She bears a smile on her face when she watches Kenma and Lev improved a bit more than yesterday. Lev almost touches the ball with his hands when he tries to spike the ball.

The team including their coaches watches both of them with interest. Naoi tries to interrupt them but Nekotama stopped him. Her grey eyes remain on both of them, somehow the feeling in her gut tells her that the next ball will be theirs. Lev stands at the middle of the court and threw the ball up towards Kenma. The setter's eyes looks at the ball for a second then looks at Lev. Lev runs up to the net and Kenma threw the ball upward towards the air. Everything felt slowed down at Nene remains trained on the ball. Lev leaps in the air, his arm ready to spike. The ball seems to thrown higher than other serves.

**"So high!"** Yaku shouts out.

_'Now!'_ Nene silently shouts in her mind. In a moment, Lev smiles at the ball then spikes the ball like a whip to the other side of the court. Everyone stood in silence as the ball bounces then rolls on the court.

**"The Ace is awoken!"** Lev exclaims. Both of them tried again but Lev barely touches the ball as it bounces off his head. Yamamoto laughs out loud at Lev's failure. Somehow the spikers of the court want Kenma to serve them the ball.. Naoi decides to break up the short battle.

**"Hey, you lot! We've got a match after this!"** He shouted.

Nene tries to hold in her excitement as Nekomata looks at her. He let out an amused chuckle.

_'Her spark is returning…'_ Nekotama thought to himself when seeing Nene approaching the team. He watches the team interact with each other. Nene separates Yamamoto and Inuoka by standing between them, holding out her hands to them. Yamamoto stops shouting as his cheeks become red and his words become incoherent.

**"Looks like the new blood is starting to circulate…"** He said with a smile on his face. The old coach turns to the doorway to see the opponent team. Naoi approaches them then bows his head to greet them.

The whistle is blown to start the match between Nekoma and the opponent team. Nene stands with the Nekoma coaches, watching her team gather into a group as Kuroo chants his words of Nekoma. Nene shouts out her words of encouragement to the Nekoma team before their game starts.

* * *

**Extra 3: The cat**

Leaving the train for their stop, Nene walks between Kenma and Kuroo. She stretches her arms into the air to relieve tension on her arms. The female manager let out a tiny yawn. **"Don't fall asleep on us, Haya-chan."** Kuroo said with a grin on his face. Nene felt her cheeks warm from embarrassment as she gave Kuroo a glare.

**"It won't happen again."** Nene promises. Kenma watches both of his friends interact. Kuroo still have his cat like grin on his face when Nene was teased. Having enough, Nene digs her fist into Kuroo's side. They walk through her neighborhood but stops in their tracks when hearing a meow. Nene takes a step forward when the meow is close by. She stops at one small bush where the meow comes from. Both males look at the female kneeling at the bush. They heard Nene softly calling out to the cat. In a second, Nene gently pulls out the orange cat from yesterday. The cat let out a purr when Nene pets on her head.

Kenma's eyes widen to see the cat in Nene's arms. Kuroo looks at his friend, **"Do you know that cat, Kenma?" **He asks. Nene approaches both of them with a smile on her face.

**"Yes, Lev and I saved the cat from the tree. It's the reason why we had our bruises and nosebleed." **Kenma explains. Nene looks down at the cat.

**"Is this true Mai-chan?"** She asks the feline. The cat let out a meow, answering yes. Kuroo attempts to pet the cat but Mai hisses at him. Nene laughs nervously, apologizing to the bed-head male.

**"Sorry, this is the cat that Miss Saki is looking for." **

Nene looks down at the cat telling the feline to return home. Putting the cat down to the ground, Mai walks away from them to the direction of her home. Kuroo and Nene starts walking, Kenma looks back at the cat who stops to look back at him. Mai gave him a grin then resumes walking. Kenma felt uneasy of the grin from the cat as Kuroo calls out to him. Kenma turns toward his friends and jogs towards them.

* * *

**A/N: Long chapter...I hope everyone is having fun with their vacation. I will update when I had the chance. **

**-Fancybunny**


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